Guardians of Konoha
by MorbidLeaf
Summary: Naruto was born 5 years before Kyuubi attack and the Kyuubi is sealed inside his brother and sister. Obito saves Rin and doesn't join Madara. How will the shinobi world fare with 2 Kyuubi Jinjuriki? What will Madara do without Obito? Mokuton/sensor/sealmaster Naruto. EMS Itachi. No harem. Rated M for language, violence and lemons. No set pairing yet.
1. Chapter 1: All according to plan

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 1: All according to plan

' _I have to get there in time,'_ he thought as he leapt through the trees. ' _I have to save them.'_

It had been nearly an hour since Zetsu had told him that Rin and Kakashi were on the run from a squad of Kiri Hunter-nin. ' _I won't lose you again... Rin...'_ Obito increased his speed once again flying through the trees at impossible speed. The cells of the Shodaime Hokage had done wonders for his stamina and physical strength, and now that he was finally getting used to his new body, courtesy of Madara, Obito felt stronger than ever.

Obito charged out of the treeline into a barren valley, heavy rainfall obscuring the landscape and saw Kakashi, _Chidori_ in hand, charging the Kiri ANBU. Obito's eyes widened in terror as he saw Rin leap in front of Kakashi's outstretched hand in position for the lightning blade to pierce her heart. His Sharingan began to spin wildly as he felt a searing pain in his right eye then seemingly disappeared into a vortex centered around his Sharingan.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Seconds earlier, with Kakashi.)**_

' _What?'_ Why did Rin jump in front of him? They had to get back to Konoha. He had to keep his promise to Obito. He had to protect Rin, even if it cost him his own life. Because he would never abandon his comrades. He had already lost one friend and he couldn't bare to lose another.

It was too late for him to stop, he was already charging at full speed towards their pursuers and Rin had leaped only several feet in front of him. Kakashi felt a blinding stab of pain in his left Sharingan eye and the three tomoe began to spin wildly and morph into something else.

Suddenly a black vortex appeared between the two Konoha shinobi revealing the back of a hooded figure with his back turned to Kakashi. Kakashi's _chidori_ plunged straight through the man's back and out through his chest stopping his lightning covered hand mere inches from Rin.

Rin looked up at the white spiral looking mask in disbelief. She was going to die. She had to die. She couldn't return to Konoha. If she returned Kiri would unleash the Sanbi they'd sealed inside of her and unleash havoc upon her beloved village.

The spiral mask, inches in front of her face, slowly opened outward form the eye hole, revealing a face she'd never expected to see again. "Obito..." Rin whispered in shock. The _chidori_ must have hit her, she must actually be dead and her closest friend was there to escort her spirit to the afterlife.

"Rin..." Obito replied with a weak smile, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth.

Kakashi pulled his no longer lightning covered hand out of Obito's back remaining conscious and standing long enough for the two former teammates to lock eyes. The pain in his eye was unbearable and his vision was slowly fading to black. ' _Obito...'_ thought Kakashi before he finally lost consciousness and collapsed into the cold mud.

' _What was that Sharingan? I've never seen one like that.'_ Thought the Uchiha as he scanned his surroundings to find he was surrounded by no less than 40 Kiri ANBU. Even with Hashirama's cells, with the internal damage he had received from Kakashi's _chidori_ there was no way he could win this fight. Obito collapsed to his knees laboring to breathe, blood pouring from the open wound in his back and chest. The lightning infused chakra had clearly done its job, as Obito felt his heart palpitate. It had not even hit his heart directly but the electricity of the attack was enough to damage other internal organs. ' _If it wasn't for the Shodiame's cells I'd already be dead. At least Rin is still alive.'_ speaking of which, "Rin... run." Obito said before he too lost consciousness and collapsed in a heap next to his old friend.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Somewhere in Iwa, with Minato.)**_

For some reason the spiky blonde haired Jounin, Namikaze Minato, felt a gut wrenching feeling in the pit of his stomach as he looked across the field of dead Iwa shinobi. The feeling wouldn't be unwarranted, considering the sight before him and what he had done mere moments earlier, but some instinct told him that his former Genin team was in trouble.

"Shikaku, I believe you can handle it from here." Said Minato before disappearing in his signature yellow flash.

"What was that about Shikaku?" asked another Jounin with light blonde hair and pupilles blue eyes.

"I have no idea Inoichi." Replied the young Jounin sporting new two deep gashes above and below his right eye.

"What do you think Yoshino is going to say about those?" Inoichi, his long term friend and teammate.

"... Troublesome." Shikaku muttered as he wiped the blood dripping down his face.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With Rin.)**_

Rin was out of options, her death was her last hope of protecting Konoha. She couldn't kill herself, that damn seal prevented it, and she couldn't hope to defeat all the Kiri ANBU. She couldn't run, that's what they wanted, they would just heard her towards Konoha like they have been. Even if she did get away that would mean abandoning her two closest friends, and she had already lost Obito once. There was no way out of this.

Without any weapons, the Kiri shinobi had disarmed her before her 'escape', she got into her taijutsu stance and prepared to fight the 40 plus ANBU surrounding her and her former teammates. ' _They'll probably just carry my unconscious body to the village and release the Sanbi anyways, so I might as well try to take as many of them down before that happens.'_

If it wasn't for the masks covering their faces Rin would have seen the cold smiles on the faces of the shinobi of the village of the bloody mist. That is until they saw a yellow flash that was known to mean almost certain death.

The yellow flash appeared next to Kakashi's unconscious form taking stock of the situation at hand. ' _Obito?'_ Minato thought in surprise, but that was a question for later. "Rin, start healing those two." He said motioning towards Obito and Kakashi, "leave the rest to me."

Minato let loose a barrage of three pronged kunai before vanishing in a _hirashin_.

All around the battlefield there were flashes that would be followed by a Kiri ANBU dropping dead. Within two minutes the Kiri shinobi were no more than lifeless bodies drowning in an ocean of their own blood.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Several days later, in the Hokage's office.)**_

"It appears that she was branded with the _kinkoju no fuda (forbidden individual curse seal)_ on her heart and had the Sanbi sealed inside of her. I was able to suppress the seal for the time being but Kushina is working on a way to permanently remove it. I was also able to strengthen the seal keeping the Sanbi sealed inside of her." Minato reported to the Sandaime Hokage, "as for Obito... He says he was found by Uchiha Madara after his alleged death. He says Madara repaired his body with the cells of the Shodaime Hokage himself. Tsunade-sama has taken a look at him and has confirmed that he does posses Senju Hashirama's cells. On top of that both he and Kakashi have awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan."

"Hm..." Sarutobi Hiruzen thought out loud. "This is troubling news indeed," the aging Hokage contemplated as he puffed on his pipe. "What do you make of all this, Minato?"

"I... I don't know. Obito said Madara never told him about his plans, only that he had one, but he needed an apprentice to help him. That could mean that he's too weak to complete whatever his plan is on his own. With Obito gone that could leave him vulnerable." Said Minato, even though he was just as confused about the situation at hand as everyone else who knew about it. "I get the feeling that this is all related. It seems too good to be true for Obito to arrive just in time to save Rin."

"If that is the case, and Madara did orchestrate this, for whatever reason, I doubt it went according to his plan." Said Hiruzen more to himself than Minato.

"You think that Madara intended for Rin and Kakashi to die?" asked Minato, really more of a statement than a question.

"More like he intended for Obito to see his two closest friends die." Clarified the middle aged Hokage. "The question is why..." Hiruzen steepled his fingers under his chin for a moment before turning his attention back to the yellow haired Jounin."You have done well Minato, now go home and spend time with your family. I'm sure young Naruto will be very pleased to see you after such a long time away," Hiruzen said mustering up a small smile at the thought of the Yellow Flash's little clone.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," and with that Minato vanished in a yellow flash.

"I'll never get used to that," Hiruzen muttered, "send Orochimaru here." He said to his hidden ANBU guard.

XXXXXXXXX

 _ **(At the Namikaze residence.)**_

Kushina and Naruto had just finished lunch, and she and the two year old were about to head to the park to meet with Kushina's old friend and teammate Uchiha Mikoto and her son Itachi.

Naruto's head shot up suddenly, surprising Kushina, "Tou-chan is home!" he cheered waving his arms running into the living room. "Tou-chan,Tou-chan! We're going to the park! Can you come and play ninja with Itachi and me?"

' _I'll never know how Naruto always seems to know when his dad is around.'_ Thought Kushina, a little jealous of the current adoration her son was showing her husband.

A laughing Minato appeared in the doorway with Naruto sitting up on his shoulders. "Of course I'll come play ninja with you and Itachi." He said as he walked over to Kushina and gave her a kiss on the lips.

"Yuck!" Naruto said miming vomiting.

"Oh yeah, you think that's gross, c'mere you little brat," Kushina mused as she showered the little 2 year old with kisses. It was uncanny how much Naruto looked like his father; they had the same bright blue eyes, and golden blonde hair, not a single thing on young Naruto's face to make him look anything different than his father did at his age.

"Kaa-chan, stop it!" Naruto was able to get out between laughing fits. "We're going to be late to play with Itachi!"

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(The Hokage's office.)**_

"You summoned me Hokage-sama." Said a thin ghostly pale man with waist length black hair and yellow eyes with slits for pupils.

"Yes, Orochimaru, please come in." Greeted Hiruzen, "I have a mission for you. I believe only you or Jiraiya are fit to handle it, but seeing as how he is currently at Mount Myoboku and we are unable to contact him, you are the only suitable choice."

"Kukuku, I'm all ears Sensei, what is it that requires a Sannin to accomplish?" Orochimaru asked, his lips curling up into a smile at the prospect of a mission requiring one of his caliber.

"We have received information that Uchiha Madara is still alive." Hiruzen stated with a puff from his pipe, "Not much is known about his whereabouts, however. As far as we know he is hiding somewhere around _Ta no Kuni_ and _Takigakure no Sato_. Needless to say, this is a long term S-rank mission."

"This does sound like something worthy of my talents. Yes Sensei, I accept the mission." Orochimaru could barely hide his joy. ' _Uchiha Madara... Just imagine what I could accomplish with the information I can gather from such a man.'_

"I want you to assemble a four man squad for this mission. And bring at least one Uchiha, I believe they would want a hand in avenging their reputation after the actions of that man." Said Sarutobi; ' _it would be a slap in the face to kill the most powerful Uchiha in history without their knowledge. And I am sure they would want a hand in such a mission."_

' _Kukuku, this just keeps getting better and better."_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Mountains' Graveyard.)**_

"I see." Stated Madara in a deceptively calm tone. "No matter, he was a weak one anyways. Really more of a last resort than anything. But that still poses the problem of finding one to complete the plan until my return."

"What do you want me to do now, Madara-sama?" asked the white half of the strange plant like creature known as Zetsu. " **You should have just allowed me to eat him. It's doubtful that we will be able to find another suitable replacement so easily."** The black half continued.

"Yes that may pose a problem. Additionally, with young Obito in hand and his curse seal destroyed Konoha no doubt knows about my existence by now. We may be able to use that to our advantage." Madara thought aloud with a sickening smile.

XXX END CHAPTER 1 XXX

So as you can see, Naruto was born before the Kyuubi attack, Obito and Rin survive, and Orochimaru is going after Madara with another Uchiha and two others.

All characters introduced so far will play a big role in this fic, and I kind of like the idea of Rin and Obito being involved with how things play out, however this will remain a Naruto centric fic.

This is my first fanfiction and I have big plans for it, so hopefully my inexperience won't ruin my idea. I'm won't claim to be the best writer by any means but I'll do my best to keep things grammatically correct and without spelling errors.

Anyways, as you can see, Naruto does not have Kyubi chakra or anything of the sort but I promise you he will be powerful (not god-like, that takes away from the fun of the story in my opinion). Naruto will be smart and less impulsive, so don't expect the same copy and pasted character from the original, but he will maintain some of his more endearing qualities.

If you have constructive criticism let me know, I'm a big boy I can take it.


	2. Chapter 2: Attack on Konoha

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 2: Attack on... Konoha

(Konoha, October 10th, three years later)

A deafening roar rang out throughout the village followed by the sound of explosions along with the overwhelming feeling of an intense foul chakra permeating the air.

As soon as she felt it Rin knew exactly what was happening. That chacra had the same feeling as the chakra sealed inside of her, only many magnitudes stronger. "Kushina-san..." Rin whispered, knowing Kushina was the only other Jinjuriki in the village. She was, after all, the one who trained Rin to harness the power of her Bijuu, Isobu. It turns out Isobu, though still a grouch, was much more amicable that the Kyuubi; current events only serving to further prove that point.

"What's happening to Kaa-chan?" Asked a 5 year old Naruto.

Rin was at a loss for words. She knew that as an Uzumaki, Kushina would be able to survive her Bijuu being extracted, but with situation at hand Rin didn't know if anyone was going to be safe. "Everything will be fine Naruto-kun." Rin said, oblivious to the fact that Naruto asked specifically about his mother rather than the potent dark chakra polluting the village, he didn't know about the Bijuu, that was a very closely guarded S-rank secret.

From where they were standing Naruto, Obito, and Rin could see the Kyubi towering over the buildings destroying the village. They could also see shinobi swarming to attack, as well as a giant toad and slug to poof into existence to fight off the fox demon.

"Jiji! Tsunade-baa-chan! Jiraiya-ojii-san!" Naruto exclaimed as his surrogate grandparents appeared to defend the village.

Rin looked over at Obito who nodded in understanding. They had to get Naruto somewhere safe. Rin using Isobu and Obito with his Mangekyo Sharingan could prove to be essential to the safety of the village.

"I'll take him to the Uchiha compound, Mikoto-san will take care of him." Obito said, "you go ahead, I'll be right behind you." Obito grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and disappeared into a vortex centered around his eye.

'I love it when he takes charge,' Rin thought before she took off towards the battle. It wasn't often that Obito took control, but when he did it really got her juices flowing. 'No time for that now, I'll just save those thoughts for later and jump him when I have the chance.'

XXXXXXXXXX

(The Uchiha compound)

Obito and Naruto appeared out of a black vortex on Mikoto's doorstep, surprising the beautiful raven haired Uchiha woman.

"Kami, Obito! You know I hate it when you do that!" Mikoto exclaimed half heartedly.

"Sorry Onee-chan, but there was no time for more conventional methods of travel. Do you mind watching Naruto-kun? I have to go fight a hundred foot demon fox." Obito said matter of factly.

Mikoto gave her adoptive brother a blank stare. "Only you could manage to make something so serious sound so normal. But yes, I'll watch Naruto-kun here."

"Thanks Onee-chan!" replied the 17 year old cyclopic Uchiha with a wide grin before he seemingly got sucked into his own eye.

Mikoto sighed and worriedly looked back towards the village where the Kyuubi was wreaking havoc. She looked down at Naruto and noticed the panic and fear in his eyes, 'of course he looks so scared. He's just a child, this chakra must be overwhelming for him.' "come with me Naruto-kun, we'll be much safer in the Uchiha shelter.

Naruto however wasn't scared of the Kyuubi, but of what he felt much further away. "Mikoto-san, Tou-san and Kaa-san are in trouble."

"Naruto-kun, your parents are both incredibly powerful, I'm sure they'll be fine." Said Mikoto with a comforting smile, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Now come on, let's go get Itachi and Sasuke and get to safety."

Naruto followed Mikoto inside to retrieve his friend and said friend's little brother. Down the hall of the traditional Japanese home they found a pajama clad Itachi carrying a swaddled Sasuke towards them. "Kaa-chan, what's going on?" He asked sleepily. It was late, far past Naruto's bed time, the only reason he was out was because he couldn't sleep and his babysitters were getting restless. They couldn't partake in their usual 'activities' in their former sensei's home, and were happy to go for a walk to relieve the tension.

"I'll explain when we're somewhere safe." Said Mikoto, leading the boys to the far end of the Uchiha compound.

XXXXXXXXXX

(Miles outside of Konoha, undisclosed location.)

A masked man in a black cloak with two ninjato secured in an X across his back stood before him. Minato had already gotten Kushina and their newborn twins to safety. Now he had to defeat the man standing just 10 yards in front of him. "Who are you? Why did you attack my village?" Minato asked, not really expecting an answer, but to his surprise he got one.

"I am Madara Uchiha. I'd decided to leave Konoha in piece... until you sent assassins after me." The masked man said in a deep commanding voice. "Don't worry about them, your assassins are all dead." He said noticing Minato's eyes widen at the news of the assassination teams sent after Madara, "they were all very easy to kill," Madara added with a hidden smile. "Now show me how weak the Hokage have become," he finished with a sneer.

Minato deftly flung a three pronged kunai from his hip in the direction of 'Madara' and dashed to the left, releasing more of his signature kunai seemingly aimed at his opponent.

The masked man leapt into the air to avoid the flurry of kunai aimed at him only to be met with a yellow flash and a hard kick to his head, which he deflected mid air. 'Madara' spun in the air sending a kick at Minato's head, only to be met with air as Minato vanished once more, only to reappear directly below him.

'How is he so fast? Even with my sharingan I can't keep track of his movements.' "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)" Madara said sending a massive fireball down towards his enemy. As expected Minato flashed away, straight to a kunai out of the area of effect of his Jutsu. 'So you flash to your precious kunai. Very well. Now I just have to get the timing down' Madara thought as his Sharingan spun into the shape of a curved three pronged shuriken with a tomoe extending from the inside of each point.

Minato let loose another barrage of kunai, which Madara opted to block with his ninjato. Just as Minato expected him to do; Minato flashed to a kunai a split second before Madara was about to deflect it. Blocking the sword with said kunai, Minato thrusted a Rasengan aimed at Madara's head. To his dismay, however, Minato met an invisible force momentarily freezing him in place.

Madara smirked beneath his mask and swatted the kunai out of Minato's hand then brought his ninjato forward aimed at Minato's throat.

Minato regained his movement and slapped the blade to the side with his open palm before vanishing in another flash only to reappear 20 yards away where one of his deflected kunai had landed.

'That should be enough to give me a considerable terrain advantage... but what was that? It was like I was paralyzed the moment I touched my kunai.'Minato was about to launch another offensive utilizing the kunai already scattered across the battlefield until he saw all his weapons raise into the air and point towards him. 'What!?'

The kunai shot towards him forcing Minato to dodge the hail of his own weapons. Once the kunai passed him however they seemingly changed directions and flew at him again, and again, and again, until Minato found himself completely surrounded by kunai flying at him from all directions.

'This is bad,' Minato thought as he tried to flash to one of the kunai surrounding him in a dome only to have the other weapons turn to him and continue to fly at him. 'This is really bad,' he thought deflecting and dodging the hail of knives.

"That speed of yours is useless when your own tools are what's being used to attack you." Madara said with a cruel laugh as he watched Minato be cut by a few of the flying kunai.

Minato glanced over at Madara momentarily, only to see him standing in the exact same spot as when he initiated the attack... in fact he was standing in the exact same position. Minato's brief distraction proved to be disastrous as one of the blades lodged itself into Minato's thigh, with another one getting stuck into his back.

'Enough of this' Minato ducked underneath two kunai sailing towards his head and slapped the ground with his open palm and leapt into the air to avoid another flurry of knives aimed at his previous location. Minato threw the kunai in hand straight at Madara's face and flashed to it. The kunai caught up to him with blinding speed and Minato ducked once more, planting his hand on the ground, before throwing the kunai at Madara once more, this time at point blank range.

Madara dodged out of the way of the kunai, causing a momentary halt to his assault, before stopping once more and continuing his attack on Minato. Minato charged towards him once more, poised to strike with a rasengan before being frozen 5 feet flashed back to the marking he had made before his attack, 'as I expected, he can't move while using that telekinetic power of his, and it seems he can only freeze me in place within about 5 feet.'

Minato was ready to attack again, hopefully for the last time, before Madara sheathed his ninjato and stood up straight, causing all of Minato's Kunai to fall to the ground. "You live up to the title of Hokage, Namikaze Minato." He said, "this isn't the last time you and I will meet." Madara then sunk into the earth.

"Fuck!" Minato cursed loudly, 'I almost had him!' The fight had only lasted for about 3 minutes, 'if that was Madara then I'm sure he had something else up his sleeve, so why did he leave so suddenly?'

XXXXXXXXXX

(Meanwhile, in Konoha)

Minato appeared in a flash next to his predecessor, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"We've managed to pin down the Kyuubi, for now," Hiruzen said, unphased by Minato's sudden appearance. "But we won't be able to keep it that way for long. He may possess the Mokuton but his aptitude for it is a far cry from that of the Shodaime." Hiruzen continued, referring to Obito. "And the Kyuubi is much more powerful than the Sanbi." Hiruzen finished.

"Leave the rest to me Hiruzen-sama," Minato said as he looked at the Kyuubi held down by a combination of Obito's Mokuton, the perfect transformation of Rin into the Sanbi, and Gamabunta with Jiraiya standing on its head. 'Kushina won't survive the resealing... and an Uzumaki is the only one capable of being the vessel of this beast.' Minato looked down in shame for what he was about to do. Minato threw a three pronged kunai in front of the fox demon and vanished only to flash before it seconds later with his two newborn twins cradled in each arm.

"The best I can do is lessen the burden on each of you." Minato said with a look of defeat. Although the damage could have been much worse if not for the actions of his students, Hiruzen, Tsunade, and his master, the village was still thoroughly decimated. The fact that it had come to this weighed heavy in his heart. "I'm sorry... Mito... Ashina..." Minato looked down at the two sleeping infants and laid them on the ground.

Using the blood from his numerous open wounds Minato swiftly drew seals on the bellys of his children and around the immediate area. Minato quickly went through a long string of hand seals before placing both palms down on top of the seals drawn on the baby boy and girl.

The Kyuubi let loose one last roar of protest before the orange chakra it was composed of began to swirl and funnel into the two sets of seals. The great beast began to struggle, flailing its tails and limbs. The Kyuubi threw the summons off of him as well as the Sanbi, then shattered the wooden tendrils tying him down, but it was too late for him to make use of his new found freedom as he was sucked inside the bellies of his two new vessels.

"I trust the future of Konoha to you." Minato said with a sad smile and a glint of hope in his eyes.

Gamabunta dispelled, the remnants of the wooden tendrils holding the giant fox in place receded, and Rin returned to her normal form. Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Obito, and Rin all gathered around Minato and his two children, looking down at the two new Jinjuriki.

"Well that sucks," said Obito, only to receive a stern angry look from his girlfriend. 'Fuck. there goes sexy fun time for at least a month... I'm such an idiot.'

XXX END CHAPTER 2 XXX

So Naruto has one big dysfunctional family. There may be one or two more OC characters in this fic, I haven't decided yet.

But anyways, I never really understood why Minato only sealed half the Kyuubi chakra inside Naruto, other than to move the story along of course, but I decided to do the same, only this time instead of the other half being eaten by the Shinigami, it's inside another person! How will Konoha fare with not one, not two, but three Jinjuriki!?

So who could Madara be? It's not Obito, he's too busy doing great things in Konoha! Some of you probably already know who 'Madara' is, based on his Sharingan design, but don't ruin it for the rest of us! And his Mangekyo ability is based off of that of Uchiha Shin from Naruto Gaiden, with some minor tweaks. He doesn't have to mark anything, but he has to focus so hard on using the ability that it limits his mobility considerably, it's kind of like Tendo Pein ability but less powerful and with more control. I think it's cooler than having the regular old Mangekyou abilities you see in cannon and every fic.

And in case nobody noticed, Naruto is a sensor, and a very powerful one at that. But nobody has noticed, which is going to be a common theme for much of the early part of this story... I wonder what else he'll be good at...

And finally the fight between Madara and Minato. Personally I don't really like Minato fights too much, or when any character uses Hirishin, it's kind of too OP, up there with Kamui (but Obito is so cool and under done so I'll keep that around), so there won't be many more Minato fights, not to say there won't be any, just not a whole lot.


	3. Chapter 3: Prelude to Legend

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 3: Prelude to Legend

(The gates of Konoha, 30 minutes after the Kyuubi attack.)

Hatake Kakashi, Maito Guy, Sarutobi Asuma, and Yuhi Kurenai reached the gates after a long journey back from Ta no Kuni. They were returning from their mission; investigate the disappearances of a several shinobi teams dispatched to the area, ultimately turning up nothing, which in and of itself was something to cause concern, when the group of young Jounin saw smoke rising in the direction of Konoha and sped back to the village.

The group arrived at the gates only to see their beloved village in ruin. Teams of shinobi and civilians alike were working diligently to douse the flames and pull the bodies of the dead and injured from the debris.

Standing in a stunned silence the group of Jounin was approached by one of the Konoha gate guards, an unremarkable looking Chunin with short spiky brown hair, dressed in standard Konoha shinobi garb and with his headband hanging around his neck. "The Hokage has requested the presence of all Jounin and available Chunin to the academy auditorium at once." The guard stated, straight to the point.

"What happened here?" Asked Kurenai in a small voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm sure that's what the Hokage wishes to speak to us about." Replied Kakashi before taking off in the direction of the academy.

XXXXXXXXXX

(The academy auditorium.)

It was one of few places remaining in Konoha large enough for such a gathering. Most of the village, save the clan districts and the districts close to the Hokage monument had been left in ruin.

"As you all know, the village has just endured its most devastating attack since its founding." Said Minato in a strong even tone, despite his inner turmoil. Kushina and the twins were in the Konoha hospital being cared for by Shizune; Tsunade and Rin were needed to care for the more seriously injured citizens. Naruto had been brought to the hospital by Obito soon after and was currently standing watch over his mother's bedside. The night's events had scared the young Namikaze, who had suddenly become extremely protective over his mother. "And I'm sure you all know by now what has become of the Kyuubi." Minato continued, followed by a low murmur throughout the crowd.

Minato waited for the muttering to die down before continuing, "since you are all aware by now, I see no reason to keep the truth from you and allow rumors to spread. The Kyuubi has been sealed inside of my two newborn children." Minato stated flatly, followed by louder more incessant chattering. This time Minato didn't wait for the crowd to quiet itself, instead projecting his voice over the rabble, "This information is to be an S-class secret. We cannot allow our enemies to know the identities these two innocent and vulnerable infants, not until they learn to control the bijuu inside of them and are able to defend themselves."

He could see the doubt in the eyes of the vast majority of the group, no doubt they would project their pain onto the containers of the beast they had lost so much to. "There will be those who wish to harm them to take the power sealed inside of them and use it against our home once more. We will not let that happen." He didn't need to hear the it to know what many of them were thinking 'kill the monsters and be rid of the demon inside!' Minato needed to get ahead of this train of thought, "Mito and Ashina are not responsible for this attack, and will not be treated as such. They will be treated as loyal citizens of Konoha!" Minato said forcefully while managing to keep his emotions in check.

Minato looked at all those present with a frown on his face, "the true enemy is the man who released the Kyuubi into our village," now he had their attention, "a masked man claiming to be Uchiha Madara." The auditorium erupted into loud chattering, a mix of both fear and confusion. "Three years ago we received information leading us to believe that Madara is still alive, and since then we have sent 6 squads of ANBU to find and eliminate him. None have returned. We had all but given up the search until now. A direct attack on Konoha is more than we are willing to take. From this point onwards it will be our top priority to find and assassinate the man responsible for this tragedy."

Jiraiya, standing several steps back from his student studied the crowd, 'they've come together under a shared goal... unfortunately that goal is to spill even more blood.' The toad sage thought with a frown, 'be careful Minato, you're treading on dangerous ground.' But Minato had been pushed to this. The near death of his wife, the brief attempt on his children's lives in order to release the Kyuubi, and the destruction of his home had pushed the Yondaime Hokage too far. Although he would vehemently deny it, Minato was acting on his anger.

"We have close to no information on Madara, so any direct attack on the man is impossible. The Konoha spy network's main purpose is to gather information on him, and when we find Madara we will rid the shinobi world of this threat." Minato finished. Rather than cheers or applause he was met with icy silence, especially from the Uchiha; having one of their own commit such atrocities was beyond their forgiveness.

'I'm not sure I like the sound of this.' Thought the scarred one eyed Uchiha in the second row.

XXXXXXXXXX

(Konoha hospital, one week later)

"UGHHHH! When are you going to get out of this damn hospital!?" Shouted Kushina, she had been ready to pull her hair out after the third day.

"Kushina, you had a biju extracted, anybody else would be dead after something like that," said Tsunade calmly. Her calm demeanor, however, was only due to the fact that they had strapped Kushina to the bed after her third escape attempt two days prior. "But it is good to see that you're doing so well after such a traumatic experience."

"Heh, a little bijuu extraction isn't enough to keep an Uzumaki down!" Exclaimed Kushina with a wide grin, she would have flexed and grabbed her bicep to further drive the point home, if not for her restraints. 'If there is a hell I'm sure it would be a fucking hospital. Damn I hate this place.' The only thing that had made her stay even remotely bearable was the presence of all three of her children, the youngest two in a crib by her bedside, and Naruto seated adjacent to both her and the twins. 'Kami, he's become protective.'

Over the past week Naruto had not left her side once, except for a quick trip to the bathroom in her hospital room. Naruto had been particularly fascinated with his younger brother and sister. He had even been the first to see their unique eyes, one light blue like his and his father's, the other a deep violet like Kushina's. Everyone had to admit that the twins were the perfect mix of Kushina and Minato; Mito had a blue left eye and violet right one, and blood red hair with golden blonde streaks, while Ashina had a blue right eye and a violet left one, and golden blonde hair with red streaks. They made up the pair of the most perfect twins Kushina and Minato could have ever hoped for.

Currently Naruto had busied himself by tickling the deep whisker marks on his sister's cheeks, causing her too laugh and koo. Despite his playful actions Naruto had clearly changed, unnoticed by either of his parents due to the excitement from a week prior. All of his movements were careful and calculated, he was uncharacteristically observant, even for one three times his own age.

'I can still feel it,' Naruto thought as he looked down at his two younger siblings, 'I know it's there. But you're not it.' He thought unknowingly referring to the twins' Jinjuriki status. Over the past several days he had been testing them, he could feel the power radiating from them mixed with their own unique signatures. He had never noticed it before the attack but he soon realized that that power once resonated from his mother, now she felt less... heavy. 'If Kaa-chan was ok with it before they'll be fine,' he thought with a smile.

"well , Obito has finished the repairs on your home so you can check out later today," said Tsunade as she watched the heart warming sight of Naruto playing with his little sister.

"Yes! Obito-onii-san is the best!" Naruto cheered. 'Now I can finally start working on getting strong like Tou-chan and everyone else!' He exclaimed internally. He wouldn't allow those he loved to suffer again.

Kushina and Tsunade gave the blonde a warm smile.

XXXXXXXXXX

(Namikaze residence)

Their home looked exactly like it had before the attack, however it felt different to Naruto. He felt a powerful energy radiating from the house... something about it just felt... right. 'All right! Now to start training!' Naruto paused mid thought. He didn't even know the first thing about training to be a shinobi. Fortunately he had a plethora of powerful shinobi at his disposal to learn from.

"Kaa-chan, can you train me?" He asked sheepishly.

Kushina was taken aback by the request. "I can't now Naru-kun, I have to get the twins situated." She replied.

"Oh ok..." Naruto said looking down in disappointment.

"Why the sudden interest in training?" Kushina asked, genuinely curious. This was the first time Naruto had ever openly mentioned anything about serious training, besides she and Minato had agreed to postpone his training until he started at the academy next year.

"Because I have get strong so I can protect you and everyone." Naruto said softly, still staring at the ground.

Kushina smiled at that. Unfortunately she was actually very preoccupied with her youngest children, "I'm sure if you asked your father he'd be happy to train you."

Naruto looked up with a wide smile and ran straight upstairs to his father's home office and family library, where Minato was working at home so he could be immediately present in case anything happened with the twins. Not that he wouldn't be already, with his Hirashin anyways.

"Tou-chan! Kaa-chan said you can train me to be a super strong shinobi like you!" Naruto embellished, excited by the prospect of being trained by, in his mind, the most awesome shinobi to ever live. "Can you train me Tou-chan, pleeeeeeeeaaaaaasssssss?"

Minato chuckled at his son's excitement at the idea of training, "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, not today," Minato said over the mountain of paperwork stacked on his desk. Upon seeing his son's puppy dog eye no jutsu in full effect, Minato sighed and walked over to a bookshelf in the corner of the library and pulled out a dusty green book titled Chakra for Beginners. "Here you go Naruto-kun, this should be sufficient enough to get you started until your mother and I have time to teach you ourselves."

Naruto looked at the book wide eyed, he had just recently started learning to read but the prospect of learning how to be a kick ass shinobi overshadowed any misgivings he may have had. "Awesome," he breathed out as if he had just been given a coupon for free Ichiraku Ramen for life. "Thank you Tou-chan!" He yelled as he snatched the book and ran to the back yard to begin his training.

XXXXXXXXXX

(One hour later, with Naruto)

It had been over an hour and Naruto had hardly gotten through the first three pages. He couldn't even read most of the words. "This sucks!" Naruto mumbled loudly in frustration.

"What sucks?" asked a familiar female voice.

"Rin-onee-chan!" Naruto greeted happily, "Tou-chan gave me this book so I can start learning about chakra so I can become a super kick ass shinobi like all of you... but I don't really understand it much."

That much was apparent to Rin, she had been watching him struggle to make sense of the same line of kanji for the past 5 minutes. "You want some help?" the teenage Jinjuriki offered, smiling.

"Yes please!" He said, welcoming the prospect of learning from his older sister figure. 'There's something strange about how she feels too.' Naruto thought. He had noticed her presence but her energy felt very similar to the twins' so he had just ignored it.

Rin made her way towards Naruto and took a seat on the ground next to him, where Naruto quickly scooted closer to lean against the purple cheeked kunoichi. "So tell me what you know so far."

"Chakra is the combination of ones physical stamina and spiritual energy, which one gains from training and experience." Naruto stated, as if word for word from a book. In fact it was from a book, the very one he had been reading, the very first sentence at that.

"Very good, now what does that mean?" She asked.

"..." what did that mean?

Rin let out a small giggle. "Ok so the first step is you have to feel deep down and find it."

Naruto looked at her blankly, "... ok..." he said as he followed the vague orders given by the 16 year old Jounin. Naruto looked internally and quickly found his own chakra. "ok , now what?"

"What?" Rin said with no lack of surprise. 'there's no way, he shouldn't be able to find it for at least another few weeks of practice.

"I found it, now what?" It had been almost second nature for Naruto to find his chakra, it was after all what he'd been feeling off of others his whole life. 'Huh, so that's what I've been feeling off of everybody for so long.'

Rin decided to humor his, not believing that he had actually found it so quickly. "Ok now you're going to mould it by trying to 'draw it out'," she said, "now don't get discouraged if you can't do it the first- What the hell!?"

"Awesome! I got it Onee-chan!" Naruto exclaimed!

"But... but... how?" was all she could manage to get out.

"What do you mean, Onee-chan?" the young blonde asked. "I just felt it like I can feel you, then I pulled it up." He said confused, he thought that's what he was supposed to do, "did I do it wrong?"

Rin was not a great sensor on her own, but being so in sync with Isobu, she was at least able to register chakra signatures at a close range, and what she sensed was no small amount of chakra. 'It's damn near Chunin level.' She thought, still recoiling from the shock. "Wait, what do you mean by 'just like I can feel you'?" She asked.

"I mean, I didn't know it was chakra until just now, but I can feel it from other people. People and... things..." Naruto said, not really able to explain that last part.

"What do you mean things?" Rin asked thoughtfully.

"Like the house Obito-onii-chan made for us. And... the Kyuubi."

'That's no surprise, it doesn't take a sensor to feel out the Kyuubi chakra.'

"Actually I can still feel the Kyuubi. It's inside Mito-chan and Ashina-chan."

If Rin wasn't surprised at first, she certainly was now.

"I can feel it in you too." Naruto said quietly, as if it were a secret. "But it's not the Kyuubi... but it's a lot like it."

At this point Rin was absolutely dumbfounded. 'How powerful is his sensor capabilities?' she wondered. 'I have to tell Minato-sensei and Kushina-san about this.' but not until she tested it out for herself. "Hey, Naruto-kun, who else can you feel?"

XXXXXXXXXX

(Namikaze residence, later that evening)

"He is able to sense the bijuu inside of me and the twins, and he was even able to pinpoint the locations of Jiraiya-sama peeping at the bathhouse, Obito at the Uchiha compound on the other side of the village, and Kakashi training in the forest of death." Reported Rin, still reeling from the revelation of Naruto's sensor ability. "Although he has trouble with unfamiliar chakra signatures, in time, and with training, he may become the most powerful sensor of out time.

Kushina and Minato both listened to Rin's report with wide smiles plastered on their faces, when finally Kushina spoke up, "you hear that Minato! My son is a genuine bad ass already!"

"Yes , that is very good to hear," Minato said with a smile.

"And his chakra levels are incredible! Greater than most Genin," Rin continued, "I can't believe he has so much! Especially after tapping into it for the first time."

"Yes, that is all well and good, but no matter how powerful Naruto may be our top priority must remain protecting the twins and coming up with a plan to train them to use the Kyuubi when they're old enough," Jiraiya interjected. "We have an opportunity to have three perfect Jinjuriki, and thanks to Minato splitting the Kyuubi in half Konoha may have its first chance at being able to control it."

"Jiraiya-sama is right. Mito and Ashina are more important in this instance, and I want you to dedicate all of your efforts into developing a training regiment for them." Minato said to Rin, Jiraiya, and Kushina, "as a perfect Jinjuriki, one of Konoha's legendary Sannin, and the former Kyuubi Jinjuriki and seal master," he said motioning towards each of them respectively, "the twins could become two of the strongest shinobi Konoha has ever produced."

"We can't just push Naruto to the side Minato." Kushina said , "if he shows as much potential as Rin says he does then it would be a disservice to not train him as well."

"It'll be nearly two years until Naruto starts at the academy, until then I have a teacher in mind for him." Minato said with finality.

XXX END CHAPTER 3 XXX

I'm tired of same old white bread Minato. Let's give him a bit of a dark side. To be clear, Minato does not see Mito and Ashina as mere weapons, but he does acknowledge their potential and intends to have the twin Jinjuriki live up to it.

Kushina and Minato are going to be pretty preoccupied with the twins, after all, raising twins is a challenge on its own, imagine twins with demons sealed in them with the power to obliterate mountains. Yeah, so poor Naruto is going to get the butt end of that stick. Poor little guy, I wonder how he'll handle playing second fiddle to his younger siblings.


	4. Chapter 4: Beyond Tallent

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 4: Beyond Tallent.

(Sarutobi Manner)

It had been three weeks since Naruto had begun his training under Sarutobi Hiruzen. The aging Sandaime Hokage fittingly known as 'The Professor' was elated to have the boy under his tutelage. It had been far too long since he had a student. Hiruzen had always thought teaching to be his true calling.

"Very good Naruto-kun," Hiruzen praised between puffs on his pipe. They were working on chakra control by having Naruto focused his chakra to his fingertips in order to balance leaves on each finger. At the moment Naruto was struggling to focus on holding onto the to leaves in each hand; ultimately the goal was to balance a leaf on each finger simultaneously before moving onto doing the same with small rocks.

"Why is this so hard!?" Naruto whined. It was a tedious but necessary exercise, and Naruto was progressing rather slowly through it.

"It's because of your large chakra reserves," Hiruzen answered patiently. "You have naturally large chakra reserves, thanks to your Uzumaki blood, making it harder for you to control small amounts of chakra." Hiruzen explained. "You need to learn to isolate the exact amount of chakra you need so you don't end up wasting chakra while performing Jutsu, otherwise you'll end up tiring yourself out needlessly during a fight."

"If I have so much chakra then why do I need to worry about using too much?" Naruto complained. "I can just use huge jutsu and beat everyone no problem!"

Hiruzen smiled kindly at the boy, "You don't have that much chakra Naruto. Besides, chakra control is about more than using too much chakra. If you can't properly control how much chakra you channel into a jutsu then you may use too little, and the jutsu won't work, or you may use too much, and you won't be able to control the technique. On top of that, without mastering basic chakra control you will have a lot of trouble with genjutsu and elemental ninjutsu." Naruto did have a lot of chakra, not Jinjuriki level by any means, but it was impressive nonetheless. 'His siblings will no doubt have abysmal chakra control.' Despite this Naruto was doing much better than Hiruzen had expected. "Come inside Naruto-kun, let's take a break for now." They had been at this exercise for well over an hour now, and Naruto's focus was drifting.

Naruto dropped the leaves and followed Hiruzen inside, hopefully for a snack. As they passed the den Naruto noticed something that caught his eye. Naruto took a left, leaving his teacher to walk to the kitchen unaccompanied, and approached a calligraphy set laid across a low coffee table. Naruto inspected the perfectly drawn out kanji that covered the open scrolls on the table. "What is this Jiji?" Naruto asked as he felt the Sandaime Hokage return to his side.

"This is my calligraphy set. I use it to practice my kanji." Hiruzen replied.

"Why do you need to practice your kanji? You're super strong, you don't need to write things."

Hiruzen chuckled at the blonde's analysis, "calligraphy is important for many reasons Naruto-kun." He said, getting some of the boy's attention, "as the Hokage I had to write to many people and it wouldn't do for me to have sloppy handwriting while writing to the Daimyo or other nobles. Also flawless handwriting is very important for fuinjutsu." Now he had the blue eyed 5 year old's full attention.

"Jutsu!? Can you teach me Jiji! Pleeeeeease?" Naruto begged.

The aging Sarutobi smiled, "I would be happy to, but first tell me what you know about fuinjutsu."

"Well it has Jutsu in it so it must be super cool and really strong."

"Hahaha, well you're not wrong," Hiruzen laughed, "fuinjutsu is the art of sealing."

"Sealing?"

"yes , sealing, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen took a deep breath before his explanation, "you can use fuinjutsu to seal objects or chakra. You can even use it to form protective barriers, prevent things from being removed, create explosives, or make silencing tags. The versatility for fuinjutsu is limitless, the only thing holding back a true master of the art is his own imagination."

Naruto's eyes began to sparkle as his attention turned back to the calligraphy set, "so cool," he breathed out.

"That it is. Unfortunately not many shinobi ever bother to practice the art past the creation of sealing scrolls, or at most explosive tags." Hiruzen informed the boy.

"Why not?"

"Either because they don't see the merit behind it, or because it is extremely difficult to learn, let alone master. In fact the only true masters in Konoha are your parents and Jiraiya."

Naruto looked up at the old man in surprise, "Tou-chan and Kaa-chan know few-in-jutsu?"

"'Fuinjutsu'," Sarutobi corrected. "And yes, they are the two greatest fuinjutsu masters in the world."

"Wow, Tou-chan and Kaa-chan are really awesome." Naruto said just above a whisper. "Can we start now?" He asked excitedly.

XXXXXXXXXX

(Later that Evening, Namikaze residence)

Nobody had come to retrieve Naruto from the Sarutobi manner, so Hiruzen had opted to walk the sensor home. They had walked most of the way in a comfortable silence, Naruto thinking about what he had learned that day, while His grandfather figure seemingly enjoyed the cool late autumn weather and clear starry sky.

'So I got three leaves on each hand, new record! And we practiced calligraphy for a long time, plus Jiji said I did good! And we meditated for a while... wow, what a boring day!' Naruto thought. 'But if Jiji says I have to do all this boring crap in order to get strong I'll do it! Jiji is the Sandaime Hokage after all, so he must know what he's talking about.'

'This is the sixth time in three weeks that they've forgotten about him. I realize they're busy with the twins and work, but to completely forget the boy...' Hiruzen was deeply troubled at the thought. He loved Naruto like his own grandson and quite enjoyed the evening walk home with him, but it seemed as if he was no longer a priority to his own parents.

They arrived at the front door which Naruto entered, followed by his grandfather figure. "Tou-chan, Kaa-chan, I'm home." Naruto said loudly, oblivious to the fact that he had been forgotten once again, to him his Jiji just felt like walking with him. "Kaa-chan, I got three leaves today and Jiji says he's going to teach me fuinjutsu when my calligraphy is good enough!" He informed his mother enthusiastically.

"That's good Naruto-kun, I'm sure Hiruzen-sama told you how important fuinjutsu can be," Kushina replied before turning her attention back to Ashina.

"Yeah, and he told me that you and Tou-chan are masters!" Naruto continued, "do you think you can teach me some?"

"Maybe some other time, if you ask your father I'm sure he'd be happy to teach you something though." Kushina said, unknowingly dismissing the prospect of passing her wealth of knowledge to her son.

Hiruzen's calm smile morphed into a deep frown at what he had gathered from Kushina's response. "Naruto-kun, it's getting late, get some rest and meet me back at the Sarutobi manner tomorrow morning."

"Sure thing Jiji!" Naruto said as he ran upstairs to his father's study to see if he could learn something else before he went to bed.

Running up the stairs Naruto paused as he felt a presence leave from the study window, as well as his father's flaring chakra signature. He slowly approached the door and knocked on the door. "Come in," he heard his father say in a slightly shaky voice, as if he were trying to suppress his frustration at something.

Naruto slowly opened the door and entered, "Tou-chan..." Naruto started, his father had been agitated over the past month, not that others could see, but Naruto didn't need to see it in order to sense his father's distress. "Jiji is going to teach me fuinjutsu, and since you're a master I was wondering if there was anything you could teach me."

Minato calmed down significantly at the presence of his eldest son, smiling Minato stood up and walked to a bookshelf and retrieved a yellow paperback book titled 'Fuinjutsu: level 1,' he handed the crisp book to Naruto, "this should get you started. How are you liking training with Hiruzen-sama?"

"Jiji is the best! Today we-"

"I knew I'd made a good choice choosing him as your teacher. Jiraiya-sensei always spoke very highly of him." Minato cut him off, "I'm sorry son, but I have a lot of very important work I need to finish." He said dismissing his son.

Naruto left the office and walked to his room clenching the book tightly in his hand. He was disappointed by the dismissal but figured his father was just stressed out from work, he was the Hokage after all; he had an entire village to run.

XXXXXXXXXX

(Two months later, Sarutobi manner)

The past two months had been very productive in terms of Naruto's training. He had mastered the leaf exercise and the following pebble exercise, evidence of his now impeccable chakra control. Hiruzen had opted to teach his student the three academy Jutsu, which to Sarutobi's astonishment, Naruto had mastered after only two attempts each.

He had also made great strides in his calligraphy practice, his skill with a brush now on par with most fully grown adults, much thanks to the calligraphy set Tsunade had gotten him when she found him practicing on one of her visits to her former sensei. Naruto had taken his aging masters advice and had not read ahead of his capabilities in his 'Fuinjutsu: level 1' book, and was currently learning to make standard storage scrolls.

After her first visit Tsunade had started making a habit of attending Naruto's training sessions when she was not busy at the hospital. To say she was stunned by the boy's abilities would be an understatement. She had discussed teaching Naruto some medical ninjutsu with Hiruzen, but they had ultimately decided to put that off for the time being. That being said Tsunade would not let the opportunity to pass on some of her vast knowledge to the boy slide. She had, however, begun to instruct her surrogate nephew in taijutsu.

Naruto had initially wanted to learn the Sarutobi taijutsu style, however it proved to be a poor fit for him, and Tsunade began to teach him the much more physical Senju taijutsu style. While still not a perfect match it was good enough for now, Naruto could tweak it into something faster and less direct at a later time. The Senju style focused mostly on heavy hits, while Naruto was no weakling and could pack quite a punch he didn't have Senju strength, he would need to add some misdirection to the style to take advantage of his natural speed over raw power.

Over the past month and a half his regulated training schedule consisted of physical conditioning followed by taijutsu lessons and sparring with Tsunade in the mornings, chakra control exercises for two hours after lunch, with an hour of chakra theory taught by Hiruzen after that, and ending with ninjutsu lessons from either Tsunade or Hiruzen, until they would finally end the training day with calligraphy practice and fuinjutsu lessons until dinner, which Naruto would have with Tsunade and Hiruzen more often than not.

Naruto was happy. He had found all the family he needed in the two Konoha legends teaching him. He was also visited by Obito and Shizune when they had time; as active Jounin of Konoha they were kept very busy with back to back missions, but they had done their best to make time for the young blonde. Even Rin, who was constantly kept busy with her demanding duty, made time to visit the younger brother she never had whenever she could find a spare moment.

Obito regaled Naruto with stories of how well Itachi was doing in his own training, teasing him by saying that Itachi was leaps and bounds ahead of the blonde, when in fact, much to Obito's pleasant surprise, he was about on par with the blue eyed sensor. Much to his own amusement Obito would do the same to Itachi, eliciting similar responses of frustration and new found determination from each boy. Either 5 year old was more than ready to be a Genin in the Uchiha cyclops's eye.

"You know, Naruto, Itachi already knows how to do fire manipulation." Obito said with a satisfied smirk, for he had played no small role in the training of his step-nephew.

Naruto's eyes narrowed at the idea that he had fallen yet one more step behind his best friend and rival, expanding what Obito had lead him to believe was already a vast gap.

"You better start learning some new kick ass Jutsu if you ever want to catch up to the Uchiha prodigy." Obito teased, laughing internally at the inner turmoil he was causing Naruto.

Sitting on the porch Tsunade rolled her eyes, 'if those two boys continued progressing at the rate they have been they'd probably be able to sweep the chunin exams alone in 6 months.' Now that would be something to see. Two 5 year old boys meeting on the world's greatest stage after having had knocked out an entire tournaments worth of shinobi thrice their age. 'Now that's something I'd pay to see... Note to self, when that time comes bet everything on that boy.'

"I've been asking to learn new Jutsu but Jiji keeps telling me to 'master what I've already learned before moving on.'" Naruto was getting frustrated with that answer, how much better could he get at henge, kawarimi, and bushin no jutsu? "I mean, I guess I could learn to time kawarimi no jutsu better, and I still use too much chakra for my bunshin, but still, I'm ready!"

"Well then, what do you want to learn?" Asked Hiruzen with a grin as he walked outside.

"Rasengan!" Naruto said immediately. He was eager to master his father's signature jutsu.

Tsunade let out a loud snort of laughter, "kid, nobody can do that technique except for Minato and Jiraiya. It even took your father, the most skilled of all of us, three years to perfect it."

Naruto looked down embarrassed, he didn't have that kind of time to catch up to Itachi. "Hirashin no jutsu?" He asked hopefully, only to be met by another laughing fit from Tsunade. "Then what can you teach me?"

Hiruzen looked at the boy thoughtfully. "How about a kinjutsu of the Nidaime Hokage? Kage bushin no jutsu!" Hiruzen said as he crossed the index and middle fingers of each hand in front of his face. In a puff of smoke another identical Sarutobi Hiruzen stood shoulder to shoulder with the original.

"Jiji, I already know bushi-..." Naruto started to say before he felt chakra emanate from the clone.

Tsunade went wide eyed, "sensei, isn't that too dangerous?"

"Naruto-kun has enough chakra for at least one kage bushin, and his chakra control is good enough to where he won't waste unnecessary chakra and cause chakra exhaustion." Hiruzen assured his former student.

"Kage bushin no jutsu!" Naruto yelled making the same cross finger seal he had seen moments ago. In several puffs of smoke Naruto split his chakra into 10 even chunks summoning 9 solid clones. "Awesome! Look, I did i-" Naruto was unable to finish that last word before he fainted, dispelling his clones instantly.

"... Idiot..." Tsunade muttered, unconcerned with the boy's well being, she could see his chest rise and fall from where she sat on the porch. "He didn't even wait to find out anything about the jutsu before he jumped right in."

"Sometimes he reminds me of Jiraiya too much for my own comfort." Hiruzen said as his sweat dropped.

"Hah, aww man, I've got to tell Itachi about this." Obito said, on the verge of a boisterous fit of laughter, before being sucked into a vortex originating from his eye

XXXXXXXXXX

(Seconds later, Uchiha Clan training grounds)

"Hey Itachi," Obito greeted as he materialized from a spinning black hole, "you'll never guess what your friend Naruto just did.

Itachi diverted his attention from the targets he had set up throughout the forest to practice his shuriken jutsu.

"The kid just mastered an A-rank kinjutsu on his first try, how's your training going?" Obito teased.

Without a word Itachi went through a string of hand seals and breathed out a 3 meter in diameter fireball immediately throwing 8 kunai through the flames. The kunai caught on fire after passing through the fireball and deflected off each other in midair scattering them across the forest, impacting dead center of each of the eight targets, two of which being on the reverse side of trees. "I'm doing alright," Itachi replied amicably.

"Fair enough," said Obito with a deadpan expression. 'Those two are going to leave the rest of us in the dust.' He thought.

'I wonder if he actually thinks that this game he's playing is actually working.' Itachi thought.

XXX END CHAPTER 4 XXX

So Minato has been cranky lately, and as you can see he and Kushina have basically written Naruto off. Naruto is taking it pretty well for now though, it'll be interesting to see how that family dynamic plays out.

Naruto has kept some of his key personality traits, mainly his impulsiveness. I know that it may seem like I'm contradicting myself from earlier chapters, but Naruto's impulsive tendencies will be far fewer than in canon, and you have to think, earlier chapters were directly following the most traumatic experience of his life; he could sense everything that was going on and could only comprehend that he couldn't do anything about it. Naruto still wants to get strong to protect those he cares about, but are those 'precious people' changing? Yes. that much is clear.

Onto Obito, what do you think of his playful, teasing personality. That along with his relationship with Itachi and Naruto. Too bad Rin isn't a bigger part of the story so far, not a whole lot is written about her personality other than her being stern with Obito and kind to everyone, and I look forward to her character progression. For the time being though, there's really no other realistic way for her role to play out. At least not in my mind.


	5. Chapter 5: Friends and Rivals

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 5: Friends and Rivals

(Konoha forest)

It had been seven months since Naruto had been taught the kage bushin no jutsu, which only served to exponentially increase the fruits of his training. Soon after recovering from his first attempt at using the jutsu Naruto had been taught how to effectively utilize the technique. Along with some trial and error, Naruto was able to incorporate his clones into his training, using them almost exclusively for fuinjutsu training and chakra control exercises. He had quickly discovered that kage bushin were very fragile and took a considerable amount of chakra, making them wasteful in any combat scenario, so he opted to use them for his more tedious training ventures before dispelling them and gathering their memories.

His limit, if he desired to remain effective, was currently 10, not including the original. Any more than 10 and Naruto and his clones were too weak to successfully train, having split his chakra equally 11 ways. Even though this was far better than his first attempt, where ten clones had rendered Naruto unconscious, Naruto still resolved to improve upon the Nidaime Hokage's kinjutsu. There just had to be a way to manage the chakra output needed for each clone, there was no logical reason as to why the technique had to split his chakra evenly.

At the moment the original Naruto sat meditating upon a stump in a small clearing surrounded by tall strong oak trees. This was one of the sensor's favorite places in the village, only beaten out for the number one and two spots by the Sarutobi manner and the newly opened Ichiraku Ramen shop, respectively.

The six year old sat completely still in the shade protecting him from the hot summer sun, feeling out the chakra that surrounded him. While 5 clones were scattered throughout the immediate area either practicing shuriken jutsu or reading about fuinjutsu or ninjutsu theory.

The original felt out the chakra signatures around him which, with the exception of his clones, were small and unremarkable. The sensor decided to follow these signatures to improve his focus, and Naruto centered his focus on a family of birds.

The mother bird had just returned to the nest and proceeded to feed her chicks from her mouth. The chicks happily ate their fill before the mother had decided to fly off and get more. Naruto frowned, his relationship with his family was almost non-existent, his own parents were more like roommates whom he hardly ever talked to. The last time Naruto had seen either of his parents was nearly a week ago, Naruto had departed to the Sarutobi manner in the morning and ended up spending the night in the guest room like he had come to do so more and more over the passing months. He had celebrated his sixth birthday that night at his Jiji's home.

Hiruzen was disheartened by the quality of Naruto's home life; from what Naruto had told him, and what he had seen glimpses of during his evening walks home with his surrogate grandson, Minato and Kushina would greet their son and engage in meaningless conversation with him, but their interactions were a far cry from what they had been just a year prior. In fact the last time they had spoken with him for longer than several minutes was four months ago when Naruto was so frustrated with the apathy his parents showed him he started to act out in the form of pranks. Naruto had kidnapped the fire Daimyo's wife's cat, attached a camouflage seal to it and had doused pheromones all throughout the village, driving the local cat population crazy with lust; that particular D-rank had lasted nearly two weeks, during which time the felines had terrorized the village into madness. Eventually Minato had become fed up enough with the noble woman that he had dispatched his entire reserve ANBU force to find it, which took the elite shinobi 6 hours. It was quite an elaborate prank, which Naruto was rewarded with a 20 minute scolding from his parents. During which they had not acknowledged the fact that Naruto had successfully thrown an entire shinobi village into chaos, and had masterfully created and deployed a level 3 fuinjutsu at 5 years old, something neither of them had accomplished until they were 13.

Tsunade was pissed. She loved that boy as if he were her own, and seeing the look on his face when his face when his parents had left after only an hour for his birthday at the Sarutobi manner was enough to send her to the Namikaze home and beat the hell out of the boys parents. She would have too if Naruto hadn't stopped her. "It's okay, they are both very busy people, if they don't have time for me then that's fine. You all are all I need." Naruto had said for the small gathering to hear. The party of Hiruzen, Tsunade, Shizune, Rin, and Obito didn't know what to make of the sudden 180 he had made from being on the verge of an emotional breakdown to the look of absolute conviction as he said those words.

'Kaa-san and Tou-san may be my parents but Jiji, Tsunade-baa-chan, Shizune-onee-chan, Rin-onee-chan and Obito-oniisan are my family,' Naruto thought before noticing something strange. 'What is that I feel from the trees? And the air... and the earth... is that... chakra?' He thought before that train of thought was cut short by the feeling of a familiar presence.

Naruto dispelled his clones, he wasn't supposed to use the forbidden jutsu outside the Sarutobi manner He sat patiently waiting for the chakra signature to come within earshot. "Hi Itachi," Naruto said opening his bright blue eyes, "what're you doing out here?"

"Just looking for a new training ground outside the Uchiha compound. The clan training grounds have been pretty crowded lately." Itachi said smiling at his blonde friend.

"You're welcome to train here," Naruto said smiling back. "Obito-oniisan says you're pretty strong, maybe we can help each other."

"He says the same about you..." Itachi said, "wanna spar?" He asked, he had been wanting to test his friend's skill for quite some time now.

Naruto's smile turned into a confident grin, "I thought you'd never ask," he said as he flipped off his stump and offered the Uchiha the sign of peace, as was customary before a spar.

Itachi accepted the sign, interlocking his index and middle fingers with the blue eyed Namikaze before they both leapt several meters back and adopted their respective taijutsu stances. Itachi got into the basic Uchiha stance while Naruto settled into the Senju stance. Something was strange about that to Itachi, but because he'd never fought a Senju, Namikaze, or even an Uzumaki for that matter, he couldn't place why it looked off.

The two prodigies sped towards each other and began exchanging blows. Naruto threw powerful well aimed blows at Itachi's head and body, while the Uchiha opted to block and dodge, periodically throwing a counter punch trying to catch his opponent off balance. Naruto's punches and kicks, while powerful, remained tight and controlled leaving little room for an effective counter. Despite this, Itachi's defense was proving difficult to get past, he chose to deflect blows rather than meet them head on forcing Naruto to overextend on a punch as Itachi side stepped and struck Naruto's elbow, successfully gaining the opportunity he was looking for. Itachi aimed a kick at the back of Naruto's knee intending to take him to the ground and force him into the defense, but was forced to block a wide spinning backhand fist aimed at his jaw. Itachi grabbed hold of Naruto's wrist and spun to take Naruto to the ground in an armbar. Naruto somersaulted and escaped from the Uchiha's grip and moved back to get some breathing room.

Facing off once more the two combatants approached each other more wary of each other this time. They had gotten the first glimpse of each other's capabilities and were now trying to develope a way to pick their opponent apart. Itachi's style was reliant on evasion and countering to force his opponent into a disadvantageous possession, while Naruto was a more direct fighter, playing right into Itachi's wheelhouse. It was time for Naruto to improvise and do his best to remain unpredictable.

Speeding towards one another again Naruto went for a slide tackle, forcing Itachi to jump over him. Naruto dug his lead heel into the ground and latched onto Itachi's ankle as his upper body rose off the ground, causing the dark grey haired child to fall face first into the grass. Itachi slammed his hands to the ground to break his fall and rolled to the left avoiding an axe stomp to the back and rolled backwards over his shoulder to avert the following kick aimed at his ribs. Once again on his feet Itachi was met with a hard right fist to his left cheek. Instead of staggering back he spun to the left and struck Naruto in the jaw with a hard spinning elbow, knocking the Hokage's eldest son to the ground.

Naruto quickly scrambled to his feet with a wide grin on his face, "why're you smiling? I got the best of that exchange." Itachi said confused.

"I've never actually hit someone before," Naruto said sheepishly. "Tsunade is too good for me to get anywhere near her."

"I'm honored to be your first," Itachi said smiling, unaware of the implication a certain white haired Sannin would have gathered from such a proclamation. Replacing his smile with a serious expression Itachi went on the offensive this time. He threw a high round kick which Naruto blocked. Wrapping his arms around the Uchiha's leg Naruto threw a punch at Itachi's face which was blocked but successfully threw the boy off balance, Naruto stepped forward and swept Itachi's remaining leg from underneath him. Itachi landed hard on his back, knocking the wind out of him. Intent on taking advantage of the situation Naruto threw a heavy right hand down at the Uchiha, Itachi deflected the blow to the side and swiftly struck Naruto in the side of the neck with the inside of his wrist. Itachi reached his free arm around the back of Naruto's neck and clasped both hands together pulling Naruto into a side choke.

After several seconds Naruto was forced to tap before blacking out from the blood choke. Both boys sat up breathing heavily, "wow... you're pretty good." Naruto said looking up and making eye contact with a pair of sharingan with a single tomoe. "Hey! No fair! You used the sharingan! You never said we could use any special techniques!" Naruto yelled pointing his finger in Itachi's face.

"What're you talking about? I can't use the sharingan yet." Said Itachi in confusion.

"What am I talking about?! What're you talking about?! I'm looking at your sharingan right now you liar!"

"..."

"Wait, you're serious aren't you?" Naruto said receiving a contemplative look from his sparring partner.

"I guess that makes sense... I shouldn't have been able to react to that last punch of yours like I did..." Itachi said before his expression turned into one of pure joy.

Naruto returned his friends bright smile, "man, you've got to be like the youngest Uchiha to ever unlock the sharingan!"

XXXXXXXXXX

(Two weeks later, Konoha forest)

After their spar the two prodigies had come back to what they'd come to call the training grove every day that they weren't spending training with their own teachers, catching the other one there more often than not. The two had quickly become best friends and wasted no time showing each other what they knew. They had also spent quite a lot of time just talking about stuff, to include their abilities, training methods, and their hopes and dreams for the future. They had briefly touched on the topic of their families, but sensing that it was a sensitive topic for Naruto, Itachi quickly dropped that subject.

"So, what's your goal?" asked Itachi, genuinely curious.

"I just want to get strong so I can protect the people I care about," Naruto said simply, "I know it sounds lame, but what use is power if you don't use it for the good of those who are important to you." Itachi nodded in understanding, "why do you bring that up? What's your goal?"

"I want to be the first Uchiha to become Hokage and bring the village and my clan closer together." Itachi stated. Naruto simply nodded at the second part of that statement. They had talked briefly on the subject of his clan's feelings towards Konoha before. "And I only ask because I want to make sure you and I don't have to fight over that spot."

"Nah, it's all yours."

'I figured as much,' Itachi thought with a sad smile, even though Naruto had said nothing on the subject Itachi had gathered quite a bit about his home life from Obito after he noticed his best friend avoiding the subject of family. "Hey, check out what I brought," Itachi said as he fished out a few small squares of beige paper, "it's chakra paper." Upon seeing Naruto's lack of understanding Itachi explained further, "place it between your fingers and channel chakra into it to find out your elemental affinity," he said as he demonstrated on a sheet which caught split in two and caught on fire. "It burns for fire, splits in two for wind, wrinkles for lightning, crumbles for earth, and gets wet for water."

Naruto looked at the paper Itachi handed him, "so you have fire and wind..." Naruto placed the paper between his fingers as Itachi had shown him and channeled chakra into it. The paper split in two and one half crumbled into dust and the other half became soaking wet.

"... Three affinities... Wind, earth and water." said Itachi eyes widening slightly.

"What's that mean? Is that a good thing?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know what it means. Obito-san said that it's very rare to have multiple affinities outside of having a kekkei genkai. But as far as I know your family doesn't have any kekkei genkai." Itachi said, Naruto shook his head to confirm that fact.

Naruto's confusion gave way to an uncharacteristically cocky smirk, "looks like I'm more gifted than you Itachi."

Itachi deadpanned, "sharingan."

"Damn! I forgot about that!" Naruto said as both boy erupted into a fit of laughter.

"I swear, Naruto, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were a complete idiot," Itachi said with a lighthearted chuckle.

XXXXXXXXXX

(9 months later. Shinobi shopping district, with Hiruzen and Naruto)

This part of the village catered almost exclusively to shinobi, with only shinobi weapons and clothing shops lining the streets, and a few small restaurants spread around. This part of Konoha was strictly business. Hiruzen led Naruto into his long time favorite establishment, Rick's Shinobi Goods. The shop was opened and run by a family of foreigners who had moved to Konoha from their home country far to the west several generations ago.

"You're starting at the academy next month, so I think it's about time you get some proper shinobi clothing and supplies," Hiruzen explained as they entered the shop. "Go grab 6 sets of clothes and whatever equipment and weapons you want, my treat."

"Oh boy!" Naruto exclaimed as he ran into the shop.

Naruto decided to start with picking out his 'signature style,' not taking long to decide on a pair of dark green cargo pants, cut off at the mid calf, mesh armour shirt, a black high collar zip up jacket with dark red lining and three quarter length sleeves, some black fingerless gloves with a metal plate on the back of the hand, and a pair of black shinobi sandals. 'Cool, sleek, and simple. I like it.' Naruto brought the stack of clothes to the front to set down before moving to the supplies and weapons section. He immediately grabbed a dozen sealing scrolls and blank sealing tags, 'you can never have too many sealing supplies,' and moved onto the weapons. He originally intended to go straight for a bo staff, in honor of his master, until something else caught his eye.

A black 23 inch katana with a simple octagon shaped handguard and a light brown grip and sheath. Naruto eyed the weapon curiously. He had never trained with a sword and Konoha wasn't known for its kenjutsu masters like Kiri and Kumo were, so getting it seemed impractical; but something felt very appealing about the idea of using the graceful weapon.

"That's a good eye Naruto-kun," Hiruzen said as he approached the counter behind Naruto. "May I?" the Sandaime Hokage asked the shopkeeper, who removed the weapon from the display and handed it over. "Chakra metal... perfect balance... very sturdy... it shouldn't require a whole lot of maintenance and it will last you for a very long time... how does it feel?" Asked Hiruzen handing the blade over to the soon to be academy student after his analysis.

Naruto awkwardly held the blade in his hand. It felt like a perfect fit in his hand, like it was made for him, "it feels great, but I have no idea how to use it. It would be wasted on me." He said looking down.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes as he looked at the six year old boy, "we'll take it." He said to Naruto's pleasant surprise, "now go get some kunai and shuriken and we can pay." He said smiling at the boy.

Naruto had a huge smile plastered across his face as master and student made their way to Ichiraku Ramen for an early dinner. "What'll you name it?" Hiruzen asked, referring to the sword.

Naruto pondered the question for a moment before making up his mind. "Odenta."

XXX END CHAPTER 5 XXX

Itachi and Naruto start to train together and become close friends. I like Itachi's character in canon so I'm going to try to keep him mostly the same, and eventually find him a cure for his Mangekyo blindness. No he won't kill Sasuke, as much as I hate the teme it goes too way too far from Itachi's character to do that.

And Itachi beat Naruto!? Unfortunately for everybodies favorite Jinjuriki (not in this story) their fighting styles just didn't match up in his favor. How will Naruto's new weapon help close that gap, if it will at all. I've been playing with the idea of giving Itachi a weapon as well, I think a Naginata would be pretty sweet but I don't think that's a fitting weapon for him; I'll probably end up just giving him a wakizashi (basically a short Katana). Someone is getting a naginata though... I just don't know who yet...

Tune in next time to find out what happens next!


	6. Chapter 6: Academy Days

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 6: Academy days

(Ninja Academy, day 1)

It was a warm early september morning, the perfect weather for some training out at the training grove. However instead of their prefered training ground Naruto and Itachi sat next to each other in the middle of the second row on their first day at the academy.

Something was off putting about this place, and they both knew exactly what it was. The girls. Since they had entered the classroom they were assaulted with excited whispers, giggles, and not so subtle glances in their direction. Naruto didn't even need to be a sensor to notice this, but much to his annoyance he was a sensor, and he was being bombarded with erratic chakra fluctuations. Although the fan girls' chakra reserves were miniscule compared to the two geniuses, they accumulated to be quite the annoyance. There were a couple of their female classmates that didn't share the unwarranted admiration of the two best friends, Inuzuka Hana, Kurama Yakumo, and Ayame.

The girl's were all in a heated debate over which of the two boy's was more deserving of their admiration before their chunin instructor entered and quieted them down. The white haired chunin looked around the class for a moment. 'Not too bad... an Inuzuka, and Aburame, and a Kurama,' Mizuki thought, 'though the Kurama girl looks pretty weak. Good thing their specialty is genjutsu. But here we have an the Uchiha heir and the Yondaime's son.' This could be a pretty easy six years ahead of him if this class was as promising as it appeared to be. "Good morning class, my name is Mizuki-sensei and I will be your academy teacher for the next six years." He said with a kind, friendly inflection. "Now, let's get started. Our first lesson will be on basic chakra theory. Who can tell me what chakra is?"

XXXXXXXXXX

(Later that day)

"I can't believe that's it..." Naruto was visibly disappointed, he had thought that the academy was going to be a continuation of what he had already learned. Hiruzen had warned him that the academy would probably be boring for him, not that Hiruzen told him why, but he quickly found out why. He and Itachi both knew everything that the academy was going to teach. And over six years? He had learned everything on the syllabus in his first three months of training, yet his grandfather figure had assured him that the academy was a very important part of his shinobi career, this was the first place Naruto would have to interact with his peers.

"I share your frustration," said Itachi. They had both been quiet about their discontent, however it had not shown on Itachi's face like it did on Naruto's. Itachi looked over at his blonde friend and cracked a small smile upon seeing Naruto's face still contorted into a deep frown. "On the bright side, it seems like we're going to be getting out pretty early for the next six years, that leaves us plenty of time to train on our own."

"Training grove?"

"Training grove." Itachi replied before both boys sped off and took to the rooftops.

A small group of four who had been within earshot of the conversation were surprised to see the two leave with such speed. "I thought this all seemed so challenging," said a girl with light brown hair and chocolate brown eyes as her gaze shifted from the direction the two had gone to the syllabus in her hands.

"Do not worry about them Ayame-san, why you might ask. It's because those two are geniuses, the blonde is the Yondaime's son, and the other is the Uchiha heir." Said a pale boy with spiky black hair, sunglasses, and a green curly brace symbol on his cheek.

"That doesn't mean shit Tatsuma. That just means we have to work harder to catch up to them." Said another brunette with clan markings on her cheeks.

"Hana is right, we should all go train too!" said a sandy blonde girl with her hair done in a thick braid down her back. She was frail and sickly looking but that didn't matter much to her, she came from Konoha's foremost genjutsu specialist clan, her weak body wasn't going to hold her back, "I'm Kurama Yakumo god dammit, and I'll be damned if I let those two temes beat me!" she exclaimed before being caught in a dizzy spell.

The other three academy students sweatdropped at the contradiction.

XXXXXXXXXX

(One month later)

Time had surprisingly gone by pretty fast for the two prodigies. They had been breezing through the academy, much to the chagrin of one group of four, and to the joy of the other aspiring kunoichi. Most of the girls had decided to like both boys.

Naruto and Itachi simply dominated in taijutsu training, chakra control exercises, shuriken jutsu, and all other aspects of academy training. Though still best friends, their rivalry had become insaciable, their taijutsu bouts became longer and more intense each time; it had started pretty neck and neck but Naruto ended up pulling ahead, now winning more often than not with his superior speed strength and agility. Itachi however was his better in chakra control, slightly, and far superior in shuriken jutsu, even without his sharingan. However close those two were, they were far beyond their fellow classmates. Beyond most genin for that matter.

When it came to special skills, however, Itachi was given a run for his money against Yakumo, but once again gained the edge thanks to his sharingan. Naruto was unmatched in his mastery of fuinjutsu, nobody else even had any idea as to what fuinjutsu was, and the young sensor was nearing level 3.

Yakumo had had enough. Recruiting her three friends in Tatsuma, Hana, and Ayame, they had taken to following her self proclaimed rivals to their private training area after class to try to get an inside look at their training methods. Unaware of Naruto's sensor abilities, and Itachi's ability to notice their subtle movements in the bushes, they had been "successfully" spying for the past two weeks, much to the amusement of the two would be victims.

"If you insist on following us here every day you might as well come out and train with us." Said Itachi calmly.

"Yeah, it's getting kinda creepy." Said another voice from directly behind them.

Going wide eyed Yakumo spun around to face her fellow blonde before being overcome with another dizzy spell.

"H-h-how are you here when I can see you over there?" asked Hana, pointing in the direction of anothother Naruto who waved back after being acknowledged. Ayame couldn't help but giggle at Naruto's antics.

"Hey, I know you," Naruto said to Ayame after his attention was drawn to the giggle, "your dad owns Ichiraku's! I love that place! Best ramen in the whole damn world!" Quite the bold statement indeed, Naruto had never even stepped foot outside of Konoha's walls.

"Don't change the subject," Hana said, annoyed at being ignored, finger still pointed in the other direction.

"Kage bushin." Naruto said simply, explaining further when he received a trifecta of confused looks... and the impassive face of the Aburame. "They're solid clones I can make of myself using ninjutsu."

"We haven't seen you do that before, you two have just been sitting around here reading all week." said Yakumo, regaining her bearings.

Naruto let out a good natured chuckle, followed by a smug grin. "What do you mean? You've been spying on them all week, only one used henge to transform into Itachi. We've been training by the water all week. Come on." said Naruto, dispelled his clone and leading the others to the river.

"If you haven't been reading all week than that means you've been doing something else Naruto-san. What would that something else be?" asked Tatsuma.

"Technically I have been reading since I retain the memories of my clones after they dispel. But to answer your question, I've been practicing my kenjutsu, and Itachi has been using my clones to practice his sharingan genjutsu." Yakumo's brow furrowed at the mention of the Uchiha genjutsu.

"Kenjutsu? Why haven't I ever seen you carry a sword then?" asked Ayame, convinced she would not be disappointed with the answer.

Naruto wasn't one to let one down and in a puff of smoke produced Odenta from a storage seal he had painted to his wrist. "Fuinjutsu," he said with a smile displaying his katana for all to see.

Once again Ayame giggled at Naruto's theatrics, 'I guess the other girls have a point, he is pretty cute,' the girl thought, 'but I doubt any of them have talked to him enough to realize how charming he is on top of that.'

"Ok, well if you're going to be here then you have to train, so get to it." Naruto said seriously before settling into a sloppy kinjutsu stance. If there was no one to teach him he had to figure it out on his own.

XXXXXXXXXX

(9 months later)

Over the past 9 months all six first year academy students had improved significantly and had become a very tight knit group of friends. Tatsuma remained as impassive as ever, Hana stayed much the same as well, remaining headstrong and determined. Yakumo had calmed down significantly, no longer showing any hostility towards Itachi, and rarely against Naruto; the two blondes had grown fond of pushing each other's buttons.

Ayame, however, had become uncharacteristically shy and quiet. She had had trouble keeping pace with the 5 clan members and after a while began to fall behind. Although she remained number 6 in the class, she was very embarrassed at not being able to keep up, only beating Yakumo in physical training but being blown away in the other categories.

Itachi was given a wakizashi by Obito for his birthday, which he had named Onimaru, and had begun training in kinjutsu with Naruto. Onimaru was 19 inches long and made of black chakra metal, similar to Odenta, it had a black sheath with the Uchiha crest painted towards the hilt, and had a white handle with no handguard. Itachi also opted to keep an additional tanto strapped just above Onimaru, which he used for quick slashes and stabs when caught in close to an opponent.

Naruto had progressed into level 3 fuinjutsu, and had started learning elemental transformations, already having completed the Suiton training with the help of Tsunade, as well as Doton thanks to Hiruzen. Naruto had attempted to get Futon training from Asuma, but the young Jounin had been busy and was only able to tell Naruto how to train his Futon with the leaf cutting exercise, which he practiced almost all day every day.

Mizuki had insisted that both Naruto and Itachi take the graduation exam and move on to become genin. It was obvious to anyone who watched them that the academy was far beneath their skill level, and keeping them there any longer was a waste of their talent. They had passed the exam with ease and were currently sitting in the classroom for what would be their last day at the academy. It was disappointing that the others didn't move on with them, but they had all been moved up to year 4, putting them in position to graduate within the next 3 years. All except Ayame, who would be kept with her current class.

"Congratulations you two. Show up here, room 111, tomorrow at 0800." Mizuki said to Konoha's newest genin.

"Hai, Mizuki-sensei," the two headband clad prodigies responded before departing.

XXXXXXXXXX

(Later that evening, Namikaze residence)

Naruto walked through the front door of his home after visiting the Sarutobi manner, where he was congratulated by his surrogate family. Obito had even teleported over briefly to ruffle the blonde's hair and jibe that, 'with him training Itachi, there was no way Naruto would make chunin before his little step nephew.'

"Naruto-chan, is that you?" his mother's voice rang out, "come to the kitchen, we want to talk to you." She said joyfully.

Naruto entered the kitchen where Minato and Kushina were currently fawning over the twins who were sitting on the counter.

"So you graduated from the academy." Said Minato, standing up straight and his smile turning into a serious gaze.

"Yes, Tou-san." Replied Naruto, mimicking his father's demeanor.

"Why didn't you tell us you were doing so well in the academy, Naruto-chan?" asked Kushina, looking down at her first born with a concerned look.

All of Naruto's hurt and frustration came bubbling to the surface and he was about to lash out before he was cut off, momentarily stifling his anger. "I'm sure he just wanted to surprise us, Kushina." said Minato, his expression becoming lighter and a smile creeping onto his face. "After all, it's not every day your son graduates the academy a whole 5 years early." He continued, unaware of Naruto's anger rising once again. "This is cause for celebration. We will have everyone over for a dinner in your honor friday night."

"We're already having a celebration at Jiji's." Naruto stated flatly, not extending an invitation to his two parents. This fact however went unnoticed.

"That's perfect! The Sarutobi manner is more accommodating for guests than this house anyways!" said Kushina.

Naruto just decided to roll with it. He didn't necessarily want them there, but he could deal with it. Now that he was a genin, even at 6 years old, he was an adult. Meaning he could move out whenever he wanted; and oh did he want to. 'So they want to acknowledge me now, for the first time in damn near 2 years, because I've graduated the academy at 6?' Naruto fumed internally. Where were they for all his training? They were busy, yeah, but when was the last time they'd even asked? They hadn't said anything about him spending most nights of the week elsewhere, did they even notice? And if they did, did they care? "Whatever." Naruto said cooly before turning on the ball of his foot and heading upstairs to bed. 'Doesn't matter to me, as soon as I can afford my own apartment I'll be seeing as little of you as possible. I wonder how long it'll take them to realize I'm gone...'

"That was weird," Kushina thought out loud, turning her attention back to Mito, "I figured he'd have more to say than just 10 words."

Minato however was shocked at what he had just noticed. He could see flat cold fury in Naruto's eyes, although the rest of his face had hidden it well, and had felt a brief flash of killing intent directed at him and his wife. It was like night and day from Minato's point of view; his usually loving and happy son had just looked at the two of them with hatred in his eyes.

In reality Naruto didn't hate his blood family, he didn't anything them, and from his experience the feeling was mutual. Mutual apathy and one sided neglect was the best way to put his perspective on their relationship. 'I don't know, maybe I'm overreacting.' Naruto thought, there was still a little part of him that would like having them around, and if they started making an effort to repair the relationship he'd probably let them.

XXXXXXXXXX

(0800 the next day, the Academy room 111)

Naruto knew his father had noticed his killing intent leak out, he could feel Minato's chakra spike the moment he felt the unsettling feeling of someone wanting to kill you. Naruto didn't want them dead, he just wanted them to realize on their own what they'd done to him. He wanted them to feel ashamed of themselves and bury any thoughts they might have that they had anything to do with his training.

"Team 5 will be Uchiha Itachi, Namikaze Naruto, and Yakushi Kabuto." Said the instructor, finished reading off the list of newly formed genin teams. "Your Jounin teacher will be Uchiha Obito." he added to both Naruto and Itachi's pleasant surprise.

As soon as the chunin left the room a black vortex appeared directly in front of Itachi and Naruto, revealing Uchiha Obito. "Okay, team 5, let's get the hell out of here and teach you to be some kick ass shinobi like me!" Obito said loudly with his wide trademark grin and a thumbs up. Obito disappeared once more into his right eye.

"How long do you think it'll be before he realizes he didn't tell us where to meet him?" deadpanned Itachi.

"I wouldn't hold my breath." Naruto deadpanned back before Itachi gave him a knowing look, "yeah, yeah, I'm on it." Naruto closed his eyes and felt around in search of Obito's chakra signature, "Hokage monument."

Half an hour later the two boys arrived atop the Nidaime's stone profile, along with a quiet boy a year or two older than them. It would seem like he also graduated early. The boy named Kabuto had neck length white hair done in a ponytail, wore a pair of circular glasses, a purple high collar vest with a grey short sleeve shirt underneath, and a pair of matching purple pants.

"Took you long enough," Obito said.

"You never told us where to go," said Itachi in an even tone.

"You have one of the most powerful sensors this village has ever produced on your team..." replied Obito, proud of his cover up for forgetting to tell them where to meet him.

"Whatever," both Itachi and Naruto said together.

Obito frowned before crossing his arms and looking away, grumbling about 'little teme's,' and how 'all geniuses are the same' along with some choice curses.

Itachi cleared his throat to break his uncle out of his internal tangent. "Oh yeah, so anyways, you're all on a team now. As teammates trust is of the utmost importance, and the first step to developing trust is to learn to understand each other," said the one eyed Uchiha, "and in order to understand each other we have to get to know each other. So without further ado; my name is Uchiha Obito, I like to train, spend time with friends and family, and above all I love Konoha. I dislike liars and I hate those who turn their backs on their comrades. My goal is to protect Konoha and all those in it." protect it from one specific, very dangerous man. "Okay, who's next?"

"My name is Uchiha Itachi," the other Uchiha said after a moment of silence, three of them were already quite close so this was clearly for the benefit of Kabuto. "I also like training, my friends and family, and Konoha. I dislike people who hurt others for no reason, and people who treat the people I care about poorly. My goal is to become the first Uchiha to become Hokage, so that I can bring the Uchiha and the village closer together."

Obito smiled and nodded looking at the other two prompting them to go. Sensing the older boy was nervous Naruto began. "My name is Namikaze Naruto. I like training, Ramen, especially Ichiraku's, and my friends." Obito's smile shrunk slightly at hearing Naruto intentionally omit his family from his list of likes. "I dislike hypocrites and people who turn their backs on their friends and family. And my goal is to become a very powerful shinobi and the world's greatest seal master, that way I can protect all of my 'precious people', no matter what."

Obito's face dripped into a frown as Naruto went on. 'He holds so much anger for such a little boy, yet loves those who have acknowledged him dearly. Minato-sensei and Kushina-san don't know what they've lost.' Obito turned his attention to the white haired genin and motioned for him to speak.

"My name is Yakushi Kabuto. I like to study and learn new things and I dislike fighting, that's why my dream is to become a powerful medical nin so I can heal people instead of hurt them." The boy said quietly.

"Those are all excellent dreams, now meet me tomorrow morning at 0800 at training ground 5 and we will begin your first training session." Obito said before being engulfed in his signature black vortex.

"... wanna go eat?" Naruto asked his two new teammates.

XXXXXXXXXX

(30 minutes later, soba restaurant)

"I still don't see what's wrong with Ichiraku's." Grumbled an irritated Naruto as he looked down at his plate of Yakisoba.

"Besides the fact that if it were up to you we would eat there every meal," replied Itachi as he happily ate his noodles, "I like ramen as much as the next guy, but I think you have a problem."

"I don't see any problem with liking the most delicious food known to man." replied Naruto. "So Kabuto, what's up? You haven't said anything since we left the Hokage monument."

Kabuto looked up from his plate of shrimp tempura with a side of miso soup, "I'm sorry Namikaze-san, I just don't know what to make of being a shinobi now." He said meekly.

"What do you mean? You graduated the academy 3 years early, you've got to be really strong," said Naruto to the older boy. "And just Naruto is better, none of that Namikaze-san crap with me." he added.

"I know what he means Naruto," said Itachi, "it's not all fun and games anymore. We're shinobi now, that means that we are going to start doing missions where we will have to do bad things to people, and not always bad people either."

Naruto looked at his new teammates with a frown, "I guess I haven't really thought about it."

"Like I said, I really don't like fighting. I want to be a medical nin like my father, but he told me that I have to be a chunin before I can move into a specialty like that," Kabuto said.

"I see," said Naruto, looking down at his now half eaten plate of noodles, it wasn't ramen but he damn sure was going to eat it. "Well then I guess we just have to hurry up and become chunin as fast as possible then!" Naruto said with a big smile which was returned by his genin counterparts.

XXX END CHAPTER 6 XXX

I know this was a long chapter, but I just wanted to get past all the academy crap as soon as possible. Finding the motivation to write such a boring chapter was tough, but there were some important things that happened. I introduced some characters that were around Itachi's age in cannon, that took some digging, and they will make a return in later chapters. Tatsuma won't be a Shino clone, he'll still talk like Aburame's are known for but he won't be so bland and boring. Hana will be a toned down version of Kiba. Yakumo... I don't know a whole lot about her so her character will be pretty much whatever I want it to be. And Ayame is going to be a kunoichi, she won't be super strong, just think of her as a less useless and bitchy Sakura. She'll be like Sakura if Sakura didn't suck, like in the brief moments when you're all like "I guess Sakura's not so bad," before she goes off being useless again.

Neither Itachi or Naruto will have a harem. There will be multiple girls he has a relationship with (not until he's older and it isn't weird for him to be getting some), but it'll be more like in real life where people have multiple girlfriends before settling down with one of them.

And Kabuto is on their team. I wonder how that'll go. Let's find out.


	7. Chapter 7: Road to Ninja

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 7: Road to Ninja.

(0800 the next day, Training ground 5)

All three genin had shown up early, they all shared the same thoughts on punctuality, 'being late is like telling someone your time is more important than theirs,' only to find the training grounds empty. In the absence of their sensei they took a seat on small group of rocks on the east side of the field, finding some shelter from the morning sun. Naruto opted to close his eyes and meditate until their Jounin arrived while Itachi struck up a conversation with Kabuto.

"How is it that you graduated the academy so early? I don't recognize your last name so you're not from a clan, you must have gotten extra training from somewhere."

If Naruto had not been so focused on a colony of ants at the moment he might have felt a brief flicker of Kabuto's chakra at the innocent question. Kabuto merely smiled at his dark haired teammate, "no, I'm not from a clan, I'm actually an orphan. My adoptive father took me in just before I joined the academy. You see, he and his wife are unable to have children of their own and took a liking to me for whatever reason. As for my training..." 'I was trained by ROOT to be the ultimate spy,' he thought to himself with a wicked internal smile before continuing after a seemingly innocent pause, "my father is the head of the Konoha hospital, as you know, and he has taught me chakra control as well as some medical ninjutsu. Other than that... I always excelled in book smarts and my taijutsu and weapons proficiency was enough for me to graduate early." Kabuto finished with a shy smile, signalling that he was uncomfortable praising himself. "What about you Itachi-san? You and Naruto-san are even younger than me."

Itachi smiled, remembering the countless hours he and his best friend had spent training over the past two years, "Naruto and I have always been close friends, and as such we've developed quite the friendly rivalry over the past few years. I don't think either of us would be here if it wasn't for the other. When we trained on our own we always showed the other what we learned, which we were able to copy fairly easily, Naruto with his kage bushin, and myself with my sharingan. We were both considered geniuses in our own right, but together I don't think there's anything that can stop us."

"It sounds like the two of you are very close." Said Kabuto.

Feeling Kabuto's discomfort Naruto opened his eyes, "you're one of us now Kabuto. If Itachi and I got strong together just imagine how strong the three of us will be!" Naruto said with a bright smile.

With that the three boys fell into a comfortable silence. 'If I could feel then I'm sure those two could become very good friends.' Kabuto thought to himself.

Half an hour later a black vortex swirled out of thin air to reveal their Jounin instructor carrying a handful of hard candies. "Here you go," Obito said with a wide grin as he tossed each boy a treat.

His three students looked down at their candy and back up at him, "you're late." They said in unison before popping the candy into their mouths.

'Is it me or is it kind of weird that those three are already so in sync,' Obito thought, 'my genin team was constantly at each other's throats,' well at least he and Kakashi were. "Sorry about that, I was on my way before I noticed an old lady drop her display of treats at her shop stand." That was at least partially true, he had stayed over at Rin's apartment and was in no hurry to get out of the shower that morning.

Naruto picked up on the perverted grin on Obito's face, "yeah, sure... so how's Rin-onee-chan?"

Obito nearly choked on his own hard candy before stuttering out his rebuttal, "I h-have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Whatever, I'm just saying, I've felt your guys' chakra when you're around each other, and it doesn't take a sensor to catch the 'subtle' glances between you two." Naruto said rolling his eyes.

"Shut up brat," Obito retorted, earning a smirk from Itachi. "Anyways, today you three will be taking your genin test." Obito paused waiting for the reaction he was hoping for. No reaction came, "you guys! You're supposed to say, 'What? But we already took our genin test!' or some shit like that."

"Well I assume the academy test, as easy as it was, was just a prerequisite to become a genin. Now this test is one designed by the Jounin instructor to measure our actual abilities and worthiness to become shinobi." Itachi explained, getting a nod from Naruto and Kabuto. "After all there's a lot more to being a shinobi than performing three E-rank jutsu and passing a written and physical test."

"Damn, I hate prodigies." Obito mumbled, of course they would give him the team full of know it alls who managed to graduate early. "Well then, since I don't have to explain the why, I'll just skip ahead to the what." Obito said as he held up a set of bells.

"Boooooring!" said Naruto, only to have Obito sweat drop, "I've already done this one like 20 times with Jiji. The point is teamwork."

Obito's eyes narrowed, "OKAY, LISTEN HERE DAMMIT! I DON'T CARE HOW FUCKING GIFTED YOU ARE, I'M THE GODDAMN SENSEI HERE AND YOU JUST GO AHEAD AND DO WHATEVER THE HELL I SAY!" Obito shouted, with an oversized white eyed anime head and tick marks on his forehead.

"Okay, fine, bell test it is..." Naruto mumbled, taken aback from his sensei's outburst.

"Good, I just want to make it clear that from this point on I'm not your friend, I'm not your uncle, I'm your Jounin commander, and what I say goes." Obito said firmly. "Now what I'm sure Sarutobi-sama left out was this. There are two bells and three of you. Whoever does not retrieve a bell will be sent back to the academy and will be replaced on this team by another genin who doesn't currently have a team." Obito said, once again disappointed with the lack of reaction coming from his students. "Begin," he sighed.

The three genin made eye contact and nodded, all rushing to the trees to set traps, which they would inform each other about when they regrouped later.

Naruto rushed to the west corner and began setting up tags. Most of his tags were explosives, but he had also decided to try some tags he had just learned to make. He set several doton tags on the ground which would turn the ground into mud, and many futon tags in the trees meant to herd his target towards the explosive and mud traps.

Itachi went directly south and started setting up ninja wire meant as a distraction rather than a trap. He was sure Obito wouldn't use his sharingan against a group of genin, so using such a tactic was a viable option in this case. Using his sharingan he attached the ends of the wires to weak branches, and set up a network that would trap Obito when he tripped over one of the various threads. Without the Sharingan it would have taken an exceptional Nara level genius to predict the movement of the wires when the trap was in effect.

Kabuto, on the east side of the forest set up an area effect genjutsu, designed to subtly make the target perceive everything to be half a foot to the left. 'If he doesn't use his sharingan to see through the illusion, this should be enough to throw him off for long enough for us to retrieve the bells.'

Ten minutes later Obito stood in the same spot they started in, 'they're probably done setting up their traps by now.' Obito was genuinely curious as to what they had in store for him. 'I bet that right about now they are briefing each other on what they've done... time to get to work.'

All three boys were hidden in the treeline discussing their traps when Obito shunshined in front of them. The three genin darted in opposite directions and surrounded the Jounin. Itachi and Naruto unsheathed their swords while Kabuto's hands started to visibly glow with blue chakra. 'No beating around the bush I see.' thought Obito before making his move towards the blonde shinobi.

Naruto let loose a handful of shuriken which Obito easily dodged, then proceeded to fend off a furious barrage of punches and kicks. From behind Obito he heard a loud clatter of metal on metal and dodged another flurry of shuriken that impaled the blonde sensor before Naruto poofed revealing he had switched with a log.

Out of the treeline Naruto rushed once more, joined by Itachi trying to flank Obito to his left. Obito reached out and grabbed the wrists of both genin and threw them away from him with a 180 degree spin. It's a good thing he spun too because he was just in time to block a chakra covered hand of Kabuto who had been approaching from the rear, 'Fuck!' Obito grimaced as he felt the tendons in his left forearm tear. Obito leapt backwards into the treeline upon seeing all three prodigies regroup and rush towards him in what looked to be a well coordinated attack.

Obito looked up just in time to see a Naruto clone drop from a tree branch sending a hard axe stomp at his head. Obito grabbed the ankle of the solid clone and threw him deeper into the forest to find it trapped in a web of ninja wire. 'That was lucky, ten more feet and that would have been me.' To his chagrin, however, the clone performed a perfect kawarimi replacing it with an unsuspecting Obito. 'Damn they're good.' he thought before switching himself with the original Naruto.

"FUCKING SHIT!' Naruto cried out, stuck in the cocoon of steel thread.

Kabuto ran to free his trapped comrade before he was cut off by Obito. Obito watched Itachi rush over and overcommit to his left hip, reaching for the bells. Obito simply stepped slightly to the right and reached to grab Itachi's wrist to fling him at his white haired teammate. Where the older Uchiha's hand should have made contact with his clanmates wrist he felt nothing but air, that is until he felt the bells be ripped away from his hip.

Obito was momentarily stunned before he realized what had happened. "Genjutsu. When?"

"Since before you came after us." Kabuto smiled. "That was my trap on the east side of the training grounds, but when I told Itachi-san and Naruto-san about it we decided to use it here as well." He said as he cut down his blonde teammate.

"I'm just pissed you didn't get to see any of my traps." said Naruto with a huff. "They were seriously kick ass."

"Naruto, your traps would have blown us all up." said Itachi.

Naruto crossed his arms and looked away as he grumbled something nobody else could make out. "So, we pass right?"

"Not, exactly. Itachi is the only one holding any bells." said Obito, smiling at the implication.

Itachi looked at the bells, then at his comrades, then tossed each of them a bell. "Ok, so now we pass." Itachi said with a knowing smile.

Obito's head dropped with a proverbial raincloud over his head. "I hate geniuses." He grumbled, then lifted his head and looked at the three genin, "but yes, you all pass. Just remember, in the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, but those who turn their backs on their comrades are worse than scum."

"Hai!" the three, now official, genin replied seriously.

XXXXXXXXXX

(one month later)

It had been a long month for team 5, even for Obito. They had completed 25 D-rank missions, 16 of which they were dispatched to go find the Fire Daimyo's Wife's cat, sort of a cruel cosmic justice for what Naruto had done almost 2 years prior. Their daily schedule was: meet up at 0800 at training ground 5, where Obito would meet them with their mission for the day, they would usually finish the mission no later than 1100, where Obito would send them to lunch until 1300 (when Rin was also on her lunch break), then they would meet back up to train until 1700, then they would do the same thing again the next day.

As much as Obito was enjoying the schedule, or more like the extended lunch break, he was getting restless being stuck inside the village all day every day. He felt like a caged animal, he needed to get out and do something. Plus his team was well prepared for their first C-rank. The only reason they hadn't done one yet was because Kushina was so against her 7 year old son leaving the village, not that she would know how capable he was.

But today was the day. With the reports of their success on 25 D-ranks there was no way to justify not sending his team on their first mission outside the village.

"No," said Minato, after Obito had pled his case.

"May I ask why not, Hokage-sama?" Replied Obito, suppressing his desire to break down and beg.

"They're too young. At 7 years old I don't think they're ready for what lies beyond the walls." said Minato with finality. But Obito was not finished.

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, you have not seen what these boys are capable of. Together they were able to defeat me on their first day as gennin. Granted I wasn't using my sharingan or mokuton, but even without my kekkei genkai I'm still on par with all but a few Jounin in the village. Their teamwork is second to none, and their individual skills far exceed those of any of any other gennin I've ever seen. I'm sorry, but using their age as an excuse is not enough to justify holding them back." Obito explained calmly.

"I just don't want them to be exposed to the horrors of being a shinobi too early." Said Minato with a sigh, knowing Obito had him on the ropes.

"If that's the case, then they should have never been allowed to become genin in the first place." Obito said. 'And what would you know about them being ready? I know this is about Naruto, but you've never once watched your son train, if you had then you'd already know that he and Itachi, hell even Kabuto, will become some of the strongest Konoha has ever produced.'

"Fine, you're right." Minato said, handing his former student a scroll, "you will leave tomorrow to Kawa no Kuni to serve as guards for their harvest festival next week."

"Hai, thank you Hokage-sama."

As soon as Obito disappeared Kushina barged into the office, twins in hand, wearing an elated smile.

Minato's eyes widened slightly in shock, "what is it Kushina?"

If it were even possible her smile would have widened further in excitement. "I'm pregnant!"

XXXXXXXXXX

(Later that night, Ichiraku ramen)

"Yeah, so we leave tomorrow morning at 0600 for our first C-rank mission!" Naruto said excitedly to his brunette friend behind the counter.

"That's so exciting Naruto-kun," the girl said with a proud smile, she had been working at her father's ramen shop since the academy had let out for holiday following the semester, "I'm so happy for you. But you better watch out, I'm coming for you next year!"

Naruto let out a good natured laugh after slurping up a mouthful of noodles from his third bowl, "I can't wait Ayame-chan! We'll go on all sorts of kick ass adventures together!"

The brown eyed girl blushed thinking of the kind of 'adventure' she had in mind with the prodigy of Konoha. 'Damn, I shouldn't be thinking that way, I'm only 7,' she thought shoving the thought of Naruto kissing her under the moonlight after protecting her from a horde of bandits from her mind. "I can't wait!" she replied, Ayame wasn't a shy girl, in fact she was very outgoing, but she didn't want Naruto to think of her the way he did about all his fangirls. Even though she genuinely liked him for who he was rather than his skill and who his father was, Naruto had been far too vocal about his distaste for fangirls for her to put herself out there like that.

'Damn, she's cute when she blushes like that,' Naruto thought, 'wait, why is she blushing? Oh god, now I'm blushing!'

'Why is Naruto-kun blushing like that? He never blushes.' thought Ayame as the two looked at each other in awkward silence before Teuchi walked out with another steaming bowl of ramen for his best customer.

"There you go Naruto m'boy!" Teuchi said placing the bowl in front of the blonde, oblivious to the awkwardness of the two friends.

Naruto and Ayame both blinked and were brought out of their thoughts. "Thank you Teuchi-ojisan," said Naruto before finishing his third bowl and moving on to his fourth. Naruto scarfed down his food and bid his hosts farewell, "I'll come see you when I'm back from my mission Ayame-chan! Thanks a lot Teuchi-ojisan!" Naruto said trotting back home to go pack.

"I like that boy, he's definitely one of the good ones," said Teuchi, "just remember, no dating until you're 14." he said sternly, it would seem like he wasn't as oblivious as he appeared.

"F-fourteen?" said Ayame with a stab of disappointment.

"Yup, that's when your mother and I met!" he said with a satisfied smile, which soon morphed into a frown, "you know what, make that 15."

Ayame face faulted.

XXXXXXXXXX

(0600 the next morning, Gates of Konoha)

The three genin and their jounin commander stood by the gates watching the sunrise in the late summer sky.

"Okay team, you know the mission, you know what is expected of you, and I have faith that the three of you are ready. Just remember, when you leave the village anything can go wrong at any time. So don't get lackadaisical, and keep your eyes peeled for danger." Obito said, "and yes that means your sensor jutsu as well." He added, cutting off Naruto's smart ass remark.

He eyed each boy before giving them a cheerful smile, "all right, let's go."

XXX END CHAPTER 7 XXX

So that's the end of another chapter. Not a whole lot has actually happened this chapter, other than just setting the stage for future events.

Now some of you may be wondering, "why do Minato and Kushina care about Naruto going on dangerous missions?" well that's because, even though they neglect him, they care about their son, and in their minds they haven't been doing anything wrong. They don't even notice that they hardly ever see him, or that he doesn't even come home most nights. It's like they've put a bookmark in one book and have been focusing on other books. They mean to come back to the first one, but before you know it you realize that book has been on your bedside table, untouched for god knows how long, then you feel like a real piece of shit. That's a terrible analogy for a kid, but hey, how else would you put it.

How do you like Kabuto on the team? That's not something you see every day.

And a possible future romance between everybody's favorite ramen waitress and ramen connoisseur? It's like a match made in heaven.


	8. Chapter 8: What could possibly go wrong?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 8: what could possibly go wrong?

 _ **(three days later, Kawa no Kuni)**_

Although they had gone at a pretty leisurely pace, by jounin standards, the three genin were broke the fuck off, Obito was happy to finally be able to kick back and relax. ' _Damn, I love river country,'_ he thought as he took a bite from an apple while leaning up against a rock down by the calm river. ' _This is the perfect time of year for a mission like this too, still nice and warm, but not blazing hot like it was a month ago, plus all the fresh produce and fish you can eat,'_ he thought happily as he took another bite from his apple, ' _damn this shit is good.'_ "Make sure you get all the blood out! Your mother will kill me if you come home with your new clothes covered in blood!" Obito yelled to Itachi, and by extension the other two.

They had come across a trading caravan being attacked by a group of bandits shortly after crossing the border into Kawa no Kuni. Obito had dispatched his genin to take care of the problem in order to blood them early. All had gone according to plan, much to Obito's dismay.

Naruto and Itachi had not taken their first kills very well, it was painful to watch them sulk. Each of the three boys got four kills, and Naruto and Itachi had made the mistake of looking their foe's in the eye as they life faded away. Kabuto was faring much better, Obito assumed because he had averted his gaze as his enemies bled to death, but he wasn't his usual self either. Each boy was substantially less chipper, with permanent frowns skewing their features, Itachi's deep tear troughs only adding to his look of anguish. Nevertheless Obito still believed it was the right thing to do, better for them to go through this now, in a relatively controlled environment, than in a situation where their lack of ability to cope could prove deadly to their comrades.

That night the four Konoha shinobi sat around a fire by the river, trout cooking over the fire. "I know it's rough, but it's something every shinobi has to go through at some point." Obito said looking down at the flames. He received no reply from the three so he continued, "it gets easier... not the killing... well yes, I guess the killing does get a little easier... eventually, when you get to a high enough level in your career you won't even know how many you've killed... but your first one always sticks with you." he said somberly, "for a while you'll see their faces every time you close your eyes, then it'll only be sometimes in your dreams, and eventually you won't think about it at all... I think that's the worst part though... when you've taken so much life that it doesn't even phase you anymore... that's when you truly feel like a monster."

They four of them sat in silence, the three freshly bled genin letting their sensei's words sink in.

Itachi was the first to speak. "I guess the best we can hope for is that all the blood on our hands helps protect the innocent... somehow." he said quietly, a few more moments of silence followed before Naruto spoke up.

"How do we stop it?" he received a questioning look from the other three in the circle. "How do we bring an end to all the violence? To all the needless death? There has to be a way for us to understand each other and not have to fight anymore!" he blurted out so fast his words seemed to blend together.

Obito took a moment to ponder the question. "That... is the real question, isn't it. I do not know... but perhaps that should be your goal Naruto, to find a way to establish true peace."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(The next morning, Kanto village)**_

Kanto was a pretty busy trading and fishing village between hi no kuni and kaze no kuni. It was nowhere near the size of Konoha, but it was still one of the larger villages in Kawa no Kuni. Preparation for the festival was in full swing, there were merchants from all over the land of rivers, and even some from the lands of fire and wind, setting up shop in the streets of the village. There were all sorts of foreign foods, and game stands, and stages for live music. Obito sent the boy's on their way to go get some food and have some fun while he went to meet their client, the mayor.

"I'm surprised you only hired one team for this 'C-rank' mission," Obito said skeptically.

"We have substantial security of our own, the added shinobi security is for the sole benefit of the harvest princesses." said the mayor. She was a beautiful blue haired woman named Yui. She had big beautiful brown eyes, her hair fell neatly down her back stopping just above her buttox, and she wore a blue kimono with silver trim and a silver floral patern. And despite her age, probably in her mid to late forties, if obito were to guess, her womanly figure was as tight as a woman half her age.

"Why would these 'festival princesses' need added security?" Asked Obito.

"Because..." the attractive bluenette paused, "for the past 5 years there has been a group who has been slaughtering these girls as an offering for another bountiful harvest." she looked at the one eyed Uchiha before elaborating further. "We don't know anything about the group, other than that it exists. We have no idea who's in it, nor do we know how many there are. We just know that before 5 years ago there was a famine, for 6 years nothing would grow, and it devastated our village. That is until a man sacrificed his three daughters out of desperation; one to the river goddess, one to the earth spirit, and one to the sun god. Since then the human sacrifice of three girls has been a sick tradition for those who followed that vile man's example." she spat the last sentence in disdain.

Obito decided not to pry deeper, he already had what he needed to know, well all but one thing. "When do they usually strike?"

"Always on the last day of the festival, the night of the full moon."

' _Damn, thats such a cliche.'_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(one hour later, shrine a mile from the village)**_

The shrine was deep in the woods, right off the shore of the river. It was actually pretty peaceful.

"Damn, that's really gay. The full moon? Like seriously?" said Naruto from his seat on the forest floor.

"We'd appreciate it if you didn't use profanity in this place," said the oldest of the three girls they would be guarding from the doorway of the shrine. She couldn't have been older than 12 and had milky white skin, emerald green eyes, and bleach blonde hair done in a thick braid down to her waist with two loops of hair on each side of her head. If she wasn't such a stuck up bitch Naruto would have thought she was an angel.

"Whatever, just go back to praying or whatever it is you do" Naruto replied.

With a huff and a distasteful look Ryuko turned around and reentered the shrine. Of the three girls they had just met Ryuko was by far his least favorite. The other two were substantially better. The second oldest, Asha, at 9 years old, had raven black hair parted from the right that went halfway down her back and had bright blue eyes. She was substantially nicer, and was quite vocal about her crush on Itachi. The youngest one was 4 year old Yuki, she had neck length blue hair and large brown eyes. While Asha had a crush on Itachi, Yuki was completely infatuated with Naruto; Naruto, for no apparent reason, other than existing, was now the girls biggest hero.

"Bitch." Naruto muttered as the door closed. "You think she'd be a little more grateful that we're here to, I don't know, SAVE HER LIFE!" Naruto shouted at the shrine.

"You shut up Naruto-baka!" Ryoko shouted back storming out of the shrine to get in the shorter boys face. "We didn't even ask for you to be here, we're the festival princesses and we'll do whatever it takes for the well being of our village!"

"Even dying for no reason!? 'Cus that's what they're going to do to you!" Naruto shouted back, their foreheads were now pressed against each other, sparks of electricity shooting out between their eyes.

"It's not for no reason! IT'S TO APPEASE THE GODS!"

"THERE ARE NO GODS!" Naruto shouted, "And even if there were, what kind of all powerful beings force people to sacrifice their lives for something that doesn't cost those so called gods anything!? That sounds more like a demon to me!"

"I DON'T CARE IF IT'S A GOD, A DEMON, OR EVEN DUMB LUCK! IF IT WORKS IT WORKS! That way _my_ village doesn't have to go through any of that again!" she shouted as tears began to form in her eyes and she stormed away towards the river.

Naruto moved to chase after her before Obito stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Not now Naruto. Give it a little time."

An hour later, after they had gone over their plan of action, to include their rules of engagement, the two remaining girls exited the shrine for lunch. Asha immediately beelined to Itachi and attempted to sit on his lap. Itachi quickly shifted to the side, forcing the raven haired girl to take a seat right next to him. Leaning up against him she turned her head and whispered into his ear, "I know what I want."

Itachi suddenly became beet red and gulped. He wasn't going to lie to himself, the offer was very tempting, but he was 7 and she was 9... that was just too inappropriate for him. The young Uchiha stood up and walked to the river, walking on water he stopped 20 yards out, turned around, crossed his arms, and took a seat.

"Why won't you love me Itachi-kun!" Cried Asha, anime tears streaming down her face.

Obito let out an audible laugh, "if Rin came onto me like that when I was your age... you know what, I'm not going to finish that though." Obito said, "but Asha-san, you two have only known each other for a couple of hours. Play it cool, Itachi and Naruto get enough of the pushy fangirls back in Konoha."

"Other girls and MY ITACHI-KUN?!" Asha said, her temper rising, "Itachi! Come over here and explain to me your relationship with these other girls!"

' _I should really stop trying to help.'_

Naruto had escaped from his little shadow. It was nice to be treated like a hero by Yuki, but Naruto had walked down the river to talk to Ryoko, to hopefully get to the bottom of their animosity.

"Uh, Ryoko," Naruto said as he approached his fellow blonde.

"Go away Naruto-baka," was her reply as she looked across the water with puffy red eyes.

Naruto ignored her orders and took a seat next to her. "Why are you so determined to do this?" Naruto asked, knowing she knew what 'this' was supposed to mean.

"I'm the only one of the three of us who remembers what it was like before," she said quietly, tears welling up in her eyes again. "Everyone was starving and desperate. Those who could afford to left, and those who didn't turned to thievery. Soon there was less and less to steal, the rivers had no fish due to overfishing, and people became more and more protective over the little they had, and others were more and more desperate to get it. Neighbors started fighting over little thing, then the fights grew into feuds and feuds escalated to blood." tears were streaming down her face once more. "One day our neighbors came over and... k-killed m-my m-mother and father over half a bag of rice!" she choked out before being thrown into a fit of sobs.

Naruto sat quietly for a moment, allowing her sobs to die down so she could continue. "Th-that's why... that's why I'm willing to sacrifice myself... so nobody in this village has to go through that pain again."

Naruto sat for several minutes before replying, "and what if it doesn't work? What if it was all just a coincidence and you, Asha, and Yuki, along with all the girls past and future were murdered for nothing?"

"It's worked so far." Ryoko said in a small voice.

"Just because the famine is over doesn't mean the sacrifices have ended it. If you die, and another famine comes along, then there's nothing you can do to help your people in the future." Naruto said thoughtfully. "You can believe whatever you want Ryoko-chan, but I'm not going to let you die. And I never go back on my word, that's my nindo."

Ryoko paused for a second and stared blankly at her fellow blonde. "Was that last part supposed to be inspiring or cool or something?"

Naruto looked back at her with an owlish look, "it's just something I thought I'd try out ya know."

"It's pretty lame Naruto-kun." she said with a smile. ' _As infuriating as he is... I just can't help but like that little idiot.'_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(one week later)**_

Over the past week Naruto had grown quite close to the princesses, Yuki was like a little sister to the blonde sensor, and Ryoko filled an older sister role. Asha on the other hand was still too preoccupied with her infatuation with Itachi to build any kind of relationship with Naruto. Asha had even managed to steal Itachi's first kiss. With the permission of Naruto, permission meaning he suggested it as a prank, Asha snuck up to Itachi while he was sleeping and planted one on him until the Uchiha prodigy woke up, which was several minutes into the kiss. He had only woken up when Asha had decided to get experimental and slip him some tongue. Itachi would never admit that he had quite liked the experience, but had still refused to talk to Naruto for two days afterwards.

The festival was finally coming to an end, tonight was the full moon. ' _It's sooooo lame that it's on the full moon,'_ Obito thought once again. Throughout the week, as the girls mad their rounds around the festival, Obito had had Naruto feel around the immediate area for anything that could be construed as malicious feelings. To everyone's dismay, Naruto had felt it from nearly everyone over the age of 13. There was no way for Naruto to distinguish those who simply wanted the murders to be carried out, and those who intended to do the deed themselves.

Going on the safe side the Konoha shinobi decided to act as if everyone was hostile. On the last day they made their presence known, it was too late to call for reinforcements, so they were forced to bluff. Naruto and Obito made a total of 20 kage bushin that they henged into different konoha shinobi they knew. It was a clear bluff and anyone with any type of political pull would know it immediately, but hopefully it would deter some of the less dedicated hostiles from acting. Unfortunately, they were in for a fight, and it was going to be a bloodbath.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Obito and mayor Yui)**_

"Are you aware that nearly your entire village wants these three girls dead?" Obito asked the beautiful blue haired mayor.

She looked down sadly, "Yes." She said in a small voice.

"Then you're also aware that this is no longer a C-rank mission. This is at the very least a B-rank, and depending on what actually happens it could even be an A-rank." Obito said, keeping his voice even, despite his rising anger.

"Yes," she said again, softer than before, averting her eyes to the ground. "I'm afraid that I may be the only one who does not want these girls dead."

"... is it because Yuki is your daughter?" Yui simply nodded at the half truth, it didn't take a genius to figure that one out, the resemblance was close enough. "And the three girls from the first time... they were also yours." She nodded again, more impressed than before, but once again, with a little digging, that wasn't exactly hard to figure out either. Obito sighed, "this is going to end horribly, you know that."

"I do."

"Many of your villagers will die." Obito said.

"I know."

"And even then, we might not be able to save the girls." Obito said.

"I know that too Uchiha-san." Yui replied, tears welling up in her eyes.

' _Fuck, forget Mikoto and Kushina. Tsunade is going to kill me for this.'_ Obito thought, cringing at the thought of his future beating, ' _on the bright side, Kushina probably won't know about this for... hell, hopefully ever. Tsunade and Mikoto are too invested in the boys to not find out as soon as we get back though.'_ "okay, we'll do it."

XXX END CHAPTER 8 XXX

So a few more OC characters, hope you don't mind too much. So I got the idea for this mission from the first fanfic I ever read a while back and I can't find it or remember its name. If anyone knows it please let me know so I can give it proper credit. It's about if Naruto became evil if that helps. And before anyone calls me out for plagiarism on that front, it's only based on that mission, other than the basic idea everything else is different.

Just so you all know, yes Obito is powerful, but Kamui is not broken like it is in shippuden. It's seriously toned down, so he can't pull people into his dimension, the chakra cost is greater, making it less of a viable long term option in combat, even with Hashirama's cells, and mokuton has a significant chakra cost as well. I want to clarify from chapter 2, he was only able to suppress they Kyuubi with the help of two legendary boss summons and another Biju. And the Kyuubi nearly broke out of it at the end. It also left Obito exhausted. So yes Obito is strong but he's not a game breaker like he is in canon. Think of him as Kakashi level in the invasion of Konoha arc, still strong as fuck, but not broken.

So I'm gonna be honest. I started writing this a while ago and just found it on my google drive and decided to get back into it and publish it to the website. I've got up to chapter 20 and I wanted to space out the updates, but I'm just going to go ahead and publish what I've got. Enjoy.


	9. Chapter 9: when things fall appart

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 9: When things fall apart

 _ **(the forest of kawa no kuni)**_

"Why is this an A-rank mission?" Asked a young man with two vertical green lines painted down his face from his headband converging at his chin. He wore the standard beige chunin flak jacket and a large white scroll on his back. "It's just an assassination of three little girls. Why do they want us to kill them anyways." the chunin asked his jounin commander.

"It doesn't matter why Saru," said the lithe green haired kunoichi, her orange bangs which normally framed her face billowed behind her. "Kazekage-sama has given us this mission so we will accomplish it no matter what."

"Plus, it's not like Suna is in any position to be refusing any high paying missions like this," said their sandy haired medic with a smile on his face.

Along with their fourth member, a fan wielding maroon haired kunoichi with dark grey eyes and her hair done in two spiky ponytails, the three Suna shinobi leapt through the trees.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(dusk, shrine outside of Kanto)**_

The jovial atmosphere that had flourished over the Konoha shinobi and their clients was gone. Everyone was on edge, Asha, who up until this point had been pestering Itachi to return her love, was uncharacteristically quiet. Even the normally calm Itachi was jumpy.

Naruto was sitting on a log near the shrine, trying to sense as far out as he could, but was surprised to find that there was no mob forming, nobody was even approaching the edge of the forest.

' _What do they have planned?'_ Thought Obito after Naruto's report. "Good job Naruto, let me know if anything changes.

Several hours had passed and there was not a cloud in the sky to disturb the view of the bright moon or or stars. Naruto's eyes shot open and his head whipped to his jounin commander. "Obito-sensei, I sense four foreign chakra signatures, they just left Kanto and are headed this way." Naruto reported as calmly as he could manage. Naruto gulped before continuing, "they're definitely shinobi. At least one high level jounin, and the other three are a minimum chunin."

"They've hired shinobi..." Said Obito ominusly. He was strong, but he was not sure of his ability to protect their clients and his three genin. "Are the traps ready?" he asked his students.

"Yes sensei." they all replied in unison. They had set up traps very similar to what they had set up against Obito on their first training day, only this time they had added some explosive surprises, courtesy of Naruto.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with the Suna assassination team)**_

They sped towards the location of the shrine, however something seemed off to the team of Suna shinobi. Why had the people of Kanto Village hired assassins for a job that it seemed they could easily do on their own? They had not been informed of any kind of protective detail for the targets, nor were they informed of any abilities the girls had to defend themselves. But as Yashamaru had said, they were in no position to not take on the mission, regardless of the unknowns. So for the time being, staying on their guard was the best they could do.

About half a mile out from their target area Saru slipped off a branch, falling to the forest floor. Pakura turned around to see her chunin subordinate become entangled in a web of ninja wire. Pakura or the rest of the team tried to respond and free their immobilized teammate before they heard the tell tale sound of explosive tags burning. None of them could locate the tags location and were forced into a hasty retreat before the forest went up in a fiery explosion.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with team 5)**_

The trap had gone off, and according to Naruto's report, had been somewhat successful. Thanks to the camouflage seals Naruto had placed on top of his explosive tags, as well to the ends of the ninja wire, along with the delayed genjutsu that had been laid, the enemy was already a hundred yards into the booby trapped area before the explosions had gone off. Naruto sensed the residual chakra of one of the enemies, indicating him to be dead, and the chakra fluctuations of the others which revealed them to have suffered differing degrees of injury.

The good news was still not enough for Obito, however. They had only taken out one, and seriously injured another, who according to Naruto, was already being healed, and neither one of them was the Jounin. As powerful as Obito was, he knew better than to take any enemy lightly. Especially a high level shinobi.

"Itachi, with me. Naruto and Kabuto, you two stay here with the girls." As much as Obito would have liked to have Naruto's sensing ability with him, Itachi's reflexes were faster and his fighting style favored evasion, which would make it easier for him to successfully fall back if the enemy proved too dangerous. Besides, Naruto's sensory jutsu was the perfect early warning system in case an enemy got by the two Uchiha and the two remaining genin were forced to engage an opponent.

Itachi and Obito, sharingan activated, took off in the direction the explosion had originated from. Itachi had drawn Onimaru, ready for action.

It had not taken the two Uchiha long to reach their enemies. The killing intent emitted from the two kunoichi was palpable. The lone male, however, was unsettlingly calm.

"Obito the cyclops." growled Pakura.

"Pakura." greeted Obito. This was not a good situation for the two Uchiha. "Itachi," said Obito, "get back to the others, this is not a fight you're ready for."

Itachi immediately darted back towards the direction in which they came before he was cut off by a furious looking green haired kunoichi known as Pakura. The enraged jounin leaked the full measure of her killing intent, causing Itachi to violently flinch, before letting loose a ball of fire at the Uchiha prodigy.

Obito swiftly used a kawarimi, switching places with his adoptive nephew, and phased through the scorching hot attack. "It seems like we're wasting no time in using our kekkei genkai." said Obito, revealing his Mangekyou Sharingan.

"You killed my student." Pakura said icily, "allied village or not, I will kill all of you." she said before the three balls of superheated flames started to encircle her.

Itachi took advantage of the momentary lull in the action to shunshin away and make his way back to the others. Obito smirked at his nephews instinct, ' _good, now I can go all out without having to worry about him. But I have to be careful using kamui and mokuton. I can't use too much chakra too fast, especially in a fight against her.'_

"Yashamaru, Kira, you'll only get in my way in this fight. Go after our targets," said Pakura, her eyes hardening, "and kill the brats while you're at it."

Obito rushed to cut off the two other Suna shinobi before he himself was cut off by a wall of scarlet flames.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Naruto, Itachi, and Kabuto)**_

Itachi had returned to the group and immediately turned around, taking a ready stance. Naruto took his place next to him, Odenta at the ready. Although their kinjutsu left much to be desired it was still their most deadly option in terms of close quarters combat.

Kabuto took his position several yards behind the two. As the team medic it was vital that he remained as far out of harm's way as possible; Tsunade had taught them that early on. Kabuto laid another genjutsu on the area, which Naruto immediately sensed and dispelled and Itachi saw through with his sharingan. This genjutsu was another subtle one which he had been working on for several weeks; it would limit the targets speed and power by making them believe they were exerting much more chakra with their movement and jutsu than what they were.

The Suna medic and futon user entered the grove and stopped 10 yards away from the Konoha genin. "Aww, look how little and cute they are," mocked the maroon haired kunoichi, battle fan at the ready.

The sandy haired medic's expression remained unreadable as he stared down the three children that stood before him. Although the man's face remained impassive, Naruto could sense the hatred radiating off of him.

Yashamaru sent a dozen shuriken at the boys, which was easily deflected by Itachi and Naruto's swords, then leapt into the air to send another dozen hailing down onto Kabuto.

Kabuto dove to the side and Itachi aimed two handfuls of shuriken directly at the pissed off medic, " _kage shuriken no jutsu!"_ said Itachi as the 8 shuriken multiplied into two dozen.

A strong gust of wind blew Itachi off his feet, also throwing his shuriken far off target. Itachi looked in the direction the wind originated from to find Naruto already engaging the fan wielding kunoichi.

Yashamaru stood in front of Itachi and Kabuto. Ignoring the clanging from sword on fan the sandy haired medic stared down the two genin. "You killed my best friend." He said in an unfeeling tone,. That was the only explanation he would give before charging his opponents, kunai in hand.

Despite Kabuto's genjutsu he was still fast. It took everything Itachi had to dodge the quick melee attacks, if his sharingan was not active he'd already be dead. ' _So this is a jounin.'_ Itachi thought. He knew he was strong for his age, all three of them were, and even strong for genin, but he had no idea the gap was that big. He couldn't even get an attack in.

Itachi ducked under a horizontal slash meant to slit his throat and countered by thrusting Onimaru up at his assailant's throat.

Yashamaru leaned to the side, allowing the sword to miss to the left of his head, and brought the hard rounded hilt of his kunai into the side of Itachi's cheek. Itachi flew to the side, crashing against a tree, ripe for the taking.

They Suna medic sprinted forward to take advantage of his momentarily stunned opponent before feeling a tearing pain in his lower back and he collapsed to the ground. Lying on his stomach he turned his head to see Kabuto appear, seemingly out of thin air, with blue chakra coating his hand.

Itachi watched as the genjutsu was dispelled from his enemy. Itachi had seen Kabuto weave another genjutsu while the enemy was occupied fighting Itachi. The Uchiha prodigy had found it strange that the enemy was so focused only on him, but now it made sense. Kabuto had laid a genjutsu that forced Yashamaru to forget about him, then used the element of surprise as soon as he got the chance. ' _The amount of chakra control to pull that off... impressive.'_

The sole kunoichi in the engagement sent a hard kick at Naruto's head, Naruto blocked it but was still sent flying by the sheer force behind it.

Kabuto was about to finish off Yashamaru when Naruto flew into him, sending the pair tumbling several yards away. With Itachi back up they quickly scrambled to their feet and surrounded the pair of suna shinobi on three sides.

Yashamaru grimaced in pain as he forced his body off the ground. His mobility was shot, and with his lower back out of commission it was all he could do to keep himself standing.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Obito and Pakura)**_

Their fight was not a stagnant one. Pakura had forced the fight all throughout the forest in order to mitigate Obito's use of his mokuton kekkei genkai. Obito had tried to use his wooden tendrils several times, but they were too slow to catch the high level jounin before him, and using deep forest emergence to trap her would take too much chakra; more than he had had after using kamui so many times anyways.

Pakura was using here scorch release beautifully. The balls of scarlet fire didn't dissipate after they were shot, only after they made impact with something would she lose control of them. They had both realized early on that her shakuton couldn't burn through Obito's mokuton, and Obito could easily phase through them using kamui. Unfortunately both took large chunks of chakra and, even with Hashirama's cells, his reserves were running dry.

' _I can't get near her, and if the fight keeps going like this any longer I'm going to lose.'_ Obito thought.

' _I can't get near him, and if the fight keeps going like this any longer I', going to lose.'_ Thought Pakura, feeling the strain on her reserves as well.

Both jounin pulled out their kunai and rushed towards the other to engage in a close quarters battle.

' _What is she doing? I clearly have the advantage here!'_ thought Obito, Mangekyou Sharingan still active.

Pakura lunged to thrust her kunai at Obito's throat. Using kamui, Obito phased through the knife and plunged his own kunai into the green haired kunoichi's stomach. Obito saw her eyes widen in pain before a satisfied smirk came over her face and Obito felt an unbearable pain go up his arm and to his torso. Obito twisted his kunai and slashed outwards, causing more damage the scorch release user, before pulling his arm away revealing scarlet flames flickering over the right side of his body.

"URRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" he screamed in pain, as Pakura stumbled backwards. Pakura summoned one last fireball, intent on finishing of the cyclops Uchiha before the man before her disappeared in a black vortex.

With her target gone she reduced the size of the scarlet orb and used it to cauterize her wound until Yashamaru could take a look at it. With the bleeding stopped the amber eyed woman took off through the decimated forest in the direction of the remaining members of the team.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with the rest of team 5)**_

With team 5 finally at the advantage Naruto placed his hands in a tiger seal, Odenta still in hand, and slammed his left palm on the ground, "doton: doryu taiga!"

The hard ground beneath the feet of the Suna shinobi became a deep mud hole. The fan wielding kunoichi blew herself into the air, escaping the mud trap. This however proved to be devastating for the immobile Yashamaru, who was engulfed in a blazing hot inferno, amplified by the wind from the fan. "Katon: gokakyu no jutsu!" Itachi yelled, fire still pouring from his mouth.

"Kamaitachi no jutsu!" shouted the enraged kunoichi, haphazardly sending a powerful gust of sharpened wind down towards the three genin below.

Itachi immediately reacted by sending another great fireball to meet the immobile kunoichi in the air. Once again, amplified by wind, the Suna shinobi was burnt to a crisp.

An overwhelming killing intent permeated the clearing as a hail of scarlet orbs sailed towards the junior members of team 5. There was nowhere to dodge, nothing to take cover behind, no jutsu in their arsenal strong enough to counter.

Naruto's eyes hardened as he felt a strange chakra molding within him, and he instinctively held his hands out in front of him and shot out a long twirling mass of what appeared to be wood, which expanded and formed a half dome protecting them from certain death.

' _What the FUCK!? Konoha hasn't had a mokuton user in nearly 100 years and I've fought two tonight alone!'_ Pakura screamed internally gritting her teeth after the initial shock wore off.

Team 5 was shocked too, but Naruto could sense that Pakura was injured and on her last leg, plus it would seem that by some stroke of divine intervention, they had the advantage once again.

All three teammates were on the same page as Naruto sent his wooden branches weaving throughout the clearing while Itachi sent a rapid string of shuriken and kunai at the scorch release user. Meanwhile Kabuto, hand glowing blue, circled to the side to flank her.

Naruto's branches were fast and unpredictable enough to prevent Pakura from using them for cover, while simultaneously blocking off any avenues of retreat or attack. She was being boxed in... no that's not right, she was boxed in, and the box was getting smaller and smaller as Kabuto closed in, hiding himself behind Naruto's constantly moving branches.

When Kabuto was 5 feet away Naruto moved the wood out of the way only for Pakura to thrust her kunai out aimed directly at Kabuto's face.

Itachi, who was closing in from the front leapt forward and brought Onimaru down hard on her forearm, slicing cleanly through her flesh and bone.

Before Pakura could even register the pain a wooden tendril shot up and pierced straight up and through her body, killing her instantly.

Naruto felt around, not sensing anything but his two teammates, and the girls, hidden in a wooden shelter made my Obito a quarter mile north. Sensing no danger Naruto fell to the ground, exhausted, followed by Itachi then Kabuto.

After about 30 seconds of peaceful silence Naruto began to laugh, quietly at first, eliciting curious looks from his teammates before they joined in, and soon the unrecognizably transformed clearing erupted into a fit of thunderous laughter.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Obito)**_

Obito laid on the hard white ground in his personal dimension. He managed to escape certain death, but only with gruesome injuries of his own. Luckily for him Hashirama's cells were already doing their job, healing the second and third degree burns covering his right side. Unluckily, however, he didn't have enough chakra to return to Kanto forest and continue the fight, and wouldn't for another hour, because whatever chakra he produced was currently being used to heal himself. This was the first time Obito was ever disappointed that he couldn't turn the healing off. He grit his teeth with a previously unknown level of frustration, helplessness, and fear.

' _I hope they can manage to survive this one.'_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With team 5)**_

Although the most immediate and serious threat had been dealt with they couldn't let their guard down. It would be several hours before the town grew restless from the lack of word they'd received regarding the assassination, and they would attempt to come finish the job themselves. The night was still young, it was barely midnight, and more blood would be shed before sunrise.

As predicted, Naruto felt a large gathering of weak chakra signatures forming at the end of the forest, and before long they started to venture in. They weren't moving at shinobi speeds, and with the already rough terrain, made rougher by the destruction caused by the shinobi, along with the traps that hadn't gone off it would be just under an hour before the mob made its way to the shrine. Those who opted to keep coming after seeing the state of the forest would reach the shrine and find a ghastly display: Pakura skewered from groin to shoulder by a large wooden branch, Yashamaru buried up to his chest and charred black, and the wind using kunoichi dead with most of her body burnt to a crisp.

The boys had decided to fall back to the girls' secondary hiding place and concealed themselves in the trees. Even if the villagers continued searching after the display they'd left in their wake, they would be hard pressed to find this spot before sunrise.

An hour later a swirling vortex appeared in front of the wooden shelter, Obito stepped out, shirt removed, revealing half his body to be white as snow and the other half to be colored normally. Aside from some soot, he appeared to be unharmed.

To his delight his students jumped down from the trees to report the situation. The Suna shinobi had been defeated, no small thanks to what was a huge surprise to everyone, and the villagers had retreated after seeing what would await them.

The sun rose several hours later and the Konoha shinobi escorted the three festival princesses back to the village. Naruto no longer sensed any ill will towards the three girls, but felt an immense amount of hatred directed at himself and the other members of team 5. Everyone stayed more than just a respectful distance however, most choosing to evacuate the streets upon seeing them.

Yui met them in front of the village capital and assured them that with the full moon of the harvest passed the girls would be safe.

When saying their goodbyes Asha snuck another kiss onto Itachi's lips, which to everyone's surprise he returned fervently.

Naruto chuckled, "I guess there's nothing like a near death experience to get the juices flowing is there."

"Shut up!" said Itachi, slightly embarrassed.

As they headed back to the village Kabuto was the one to voice the question on everyone's mind. "This is going to end bad, isn't it Obito-sensei?"

They had had an full on battle with Suna shinobi, one of whom was one of their most powerful kekkei genkai users, and had killed all four of them. "Yes. This is going to end very bad." Said Obito solemnly.

XXX END CHAPTER 9 XXX

Oh shit, what happens to Garra without Yashamaru around, who was the fan wielding maroon haired chick. Overall, how is Suna going to take this news? We can assume that alliance is over. And what is it that happens three years after the kyuubi attack? You know, that thing involving another Kekkei genkai and another village... Whatever, I can't remember. All I know is that Konoha is in a bad place right now.

So Naruto can use mokuton, and waaaaaayyyy better than Obito can. Y'all probably saw that coming though, I tried to foreshadow, but I probably hinted too hard. Just like I may have done with another thing regarding Naruto...

A few more chapters until we start the chunin exams, don't worry, it's going to be different, then we can hit up a time skip, because young team 5 is lame. Let's get to an older cooler team 5 already. Kabuto character development coming soon!


	10. Chapter 10: Bloodline

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 10: Bloodline

 _ **(Konoha, 4 days after events in Kanto)**_

"Remember, do not speak of Naruto's mokuton to anybody. There are those who will wish to use Naruto because of it." Obito informed his team. As it stood, the four of them were the only ones with any idea about Naruto's newly unlocked kekkei genkai. "Now go back to your homes and rest, I'll head to debrief the Hokage."

The three shell shocked genin nodded and slowly went their ways. After the adrenaline had worn off they were left exhausted, and broken. The events in Kanto had taken a toll on the psyche of Naruto, Itachi, and apparently Kabuto. Obito watched them leave, ' _hopefully this wasn't too much too soon and they can bounce back.'_ thought Obito. His team was well prepared for any C-rank, but an A-rank was much too soon for two 7 year old boys and a 9 year old.

Once they all disappeared into the mid afternoon crowd of the streets of Konoha, Obito sighed and went his own way. Normally he would have used kamui, but he needed some time to clear his head and a walk through his beloved village was just what the doctor ordered.

After half an hour of wandering, the cyclops Uchiha found himself in front of the Sarutobi manner. Obito approached the gate, and saw the aging clan head relaxing in the courtyard.

Hiruzen noticed his surrogate grandsons' sensei and beckoned him forward, taking note of his troubled expression. "What's wrong Obito? You look conflicted."

Obito looked around with his sharingan to make sure nobody else was around only to see Tsunade walking towards them. Deciding that it was safe Obito released his dojutsu and waited for the female sannin to approach. When she did he wasted no time with a greeting, "Naruto has unlocked the mokuton." he said, receiving a shocked look from both Hiruzen and Tsunade.

Hiruzen was stunned, but was slightly amused by the incredulous look on his student's face. ' _I never thought I'd see the day that Tsunade was at a loss for words.'_ Hiruzen's eyes refocused on Obito, "who else knows?" He asked, right to the point.

"Only us and the rest of his genin team. I've instructed them to speak to noone of this, and have ordered Naruto to not use his kekkei genkai until we figure something out."

"The Shodaime's jutsu." Whispered Tsunade. It made sense to her how Obito could use mokuton, but how did Naruto acquire such a power? "The hokage hasn't been informed yet?" Obito shook his head. "Good, that neglectful bastard would probably brush it off to the side anyways!" she exclaimed with reestablished vigor.

A frown crept onto Hiruzen's wrinkled face, "I believe that is the best course of action," he said, "as you know, mokuton is one of the most powerful kekkei genkai Konoha has ever had, rivaled only by the sharingan, and we all know that there are _certain_ citizens who would want to 'study' it in a natural user, and even more who would push to weaponize young Naruto. I'm afraid we cannot trust this information to even the Hokage; we have no idea where the flys on the wall could be hiding"

They all knew exactly who they were referring to. The same man who had tried fervently to recruit Obito when he had returned with both the Mangekyou and the Mokuton; Danzo.

"So our best course of action is to keep this quiet for now." said Tsunade, receiving a nod from both Hiruzen and Obito. "Shouldn't Obito train him to use it properly?"

"From what I saw, his prowess with mokuton far exceeds my own. Within minutes of unlocking it for the first time he was able to use it to defeat Shakuton no Pakura with the help of his team." Obito said, receiving stunned silence from the two legendary shinobi. "There is nothing I can teach him."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(45 minutes later, Hokage office)**_

Obito finished his brief and handed over the scrolls containing the bodies of the dead Suna shinobi. Obito had taken credit for the death of Pakura; it was undoubtedly a mokuton jutsu that had killed her, and they had agreed to keep Naruto's kekkei genkai a secret for now. He would have to repay Konoha's only other Mokuton user for taking credit for killing such a high value target somehow; all you can eat at Ichiraku should suffice. Minato was unsettlingly calm throughout the briefing. His normally bright welcoming blue eyes had progressively grown harder and colder as the debriefing went on, and now his gaze seemed to be like ice cycles piercing his former student. However there was no killing intent behind it, Obito was unsettled by his Hokage's demeanor.

"The political ramifications from this won't be good." Minato started. "If I'm right about who the other two were based on your description, they were the Kazekage's sister and brother in law." Minato said, eyeing the scrolls on his desk, "though there is no way to be sure of that," he added. "Take these to Suna, return the bodies of their dead shinobi and explain what had happened. We cannot avoid all political fallout because of this, but if we're lucky our alliance won't be dissolved entirely. How's Naruto holding up?"

"Not very well. I talked to him and he's putting on a strong face but it's eating away at him." Obito said, slightly surprised at the concern. Obito brushed it off, neglectful as he was it was still a fathers job to worry.

"I'll talk to him." Minato said, steepling his fingers in thought, "Now go deliver our consolations."

Obito nodded and picked up the scrolls once more. "Hai, Hokage-sama." he said before being overtaken by a black swirl.

"Send in Kakashi." Said Minato. The masked jounin walked into the office and reported to the village leader. "As you know, we are receiving guests from Kumo next week to discuss an alliance." Minato started, foregoing any formalities, "with recent events in mind, this alliance is more important than ever. Therefore I want you to be in charge of their escort team."

"By escort, you mean follow them and make sure they don't try anything." Confirmed Kakashi.

"That's exactly what I mean."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Ichiraku Ramen)**_

Naruto didn't want to be alone, and if he went home that's all he would get. He didn't feel like answering a hundred questions about his first mission outside the village from Tsunade, Hiruzen of course would take the hint that Naruto didn't want to talk about it, but the busty Senju would have been persistent simply out of worry. Naruto just wanted some quiet company and his favorite comfort food.

Ayame was about to ask about his mission, but upon seeing her blonde friend's face she had decided to drop it for now. "Hello Naruto-kun!" She greeted with a warm smile.

"Hello Ayame-chan." Naruto replied with a weak smile of his own. "Can I get a large miso ramen with extra pork... and a beer." said Naruto.

"Haha, you can have the ramen Naruto-kun, but I'm afraid you're about 12 years too young for a beer!" Teuchi laughed. Naruto nodded, clearly not expecting that second part of the order.

Ayame eyed her friend with a worried expression on her face. "I'm fine Ayame-chan," said Naruto, "it was just a rough mission, that's all. I don't really want to talk about it right now but I'll tell you about it later." he promised. He managed to muster up another brief weak smile, meant to be reassuring, but only managed to increase Ayame's concerns.

After finishing just one bowl Naruto paid but continued to sit at the booth in silence for another 15 minutes before getting up and quietly walking away. Naruto's strange behavior did not go unnoticed by Teuchi who frowned and looked at his daughter. "Go be with your friend Ayame, I can handle it from here today."

Without hesitation Ayame ran out of the restaurant and caught up to the blue eyed sensor. Naruto made no indication as to whether or not he wanted her there but continued wandering the streets silently with her at his side.

After wandering for what seemed like hours Naruto and Ayame found themselves atop the Hokage monument. Naruto took a seat on his Jiji's head and Ayame planted herself right next to him. The sun was starting to creep its way towards the horizon casting an orange glow over the village. It was a beautiful sight to behold, the orange sunlight reflecting off the rooftops in the village below made the village look like a sea of warm comforting fire surrounded by a sea of dark luscious green.

They sat and watched the sunset in silence until the bottom of the sun touched the horizon. The red glow of the sun hitting the clouds made the sky look as if it too were a dying fire, as the dark reds and oranges darkened further into various shades of violet. It would have been the perfect moment for Ayame, had Naruto not been in such a somber mood. To hell with it though, it was too perfect an opportunity for the lovestruck girl to pass up. She leaned her body against his and rested her head on the shoulder of the object of her affection.

She could feel Naruto relax before she felt him shudder. She looked up to see tears streaming down his face and heard his breath hitching as he tried to suppress his sobbs. Ayame was confused but simply placed one hand on his back taking his hand in the other.

He hadn't realized it, but nobody had given him any sort of comforting touch in weeks. He had been there with Itachi, Kabuto, and Obito, and even though their sensei had talked to them about some of what they were feeling, there were no reassuring touches or hugs or anything of the sort. Guys just don't do that for each other... and it'd be weird if they did.

She leaned against him once more and rubbed his back in a soothing manner and before long Naruto's sobs subsided. "What's wrong, Naruto-kun?" She asked just above a whisper.

"I-I didn't th-think it-hic would be so hard, ya know." Naruto said trying to regain his composure.

"What happened?" Ayame asked. Now she was truly concerned; Naruto was the strongest person she knew, what could have been so hard to push him to this.

"I... I had my first kills... 5 of them." Naruto paused, "6 if you count the guy that blew up in the trap."

Although Ayame didn't know what it felt like she could empathize with him; it wasn't something people talked about much, either because it hurt to think about, or because those who haven't killed before never thought about that particular what if much at all. ' _He's not even 8 and he's already killed 6 people...'_

"Obito-sensei says it gets easier, and that I'll learn to cope... but he also said that's when you feel most like a monster." Naruto said, slowly calming down. "I don't want to be a monster, Ayame-chan... I became a shinobi to protect everyone from monsters."

"You'll never be a monster Naruto-kun." She let go and turned his face towards hers, cupping his cheek in her hand. "No matter what happens you'll never be a monster to me." she said leaning forward and planting a kiss on his forehead. "You'll always be a hero to me."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(one week later)**_

Naruto had felt much better after talking with Ayame. He could still feel her lips on his forehead when he thought about it, which never failed to bring a blush to his face. He had also talked to Tsunade, Shizune, and Hiruzen about it. They had all shown sympathy and shared some advice, but nothing had helped as much as his talk with Ayame.

His parents had not said anything about it. If Naruto didn't already know that Obito had debriefed the mission to his father Naruto would not have known if his parents knew at all. Not that Naruto cared; he had long since given up on anything other than a respectful working relationship with the two. Working relationship only because his father was his Hokage. Kushina had been busy doing things for her pregnancy, she was now entering her second trimester, and Naruto had hardly seen her in the week since he'd been back, not that he cared.

It didn't take Naruto long to get used to the idea of having another sibling. He was not at home very often as it was, and even when he was he didn't mind the twins following him around like lost puppies. The twins were almost 3 now and were developing their own distinct personalities; Ashina was loud and rambunctious while Mito was more reserved. It was endlessly entertaining for Naruto to watch Ashina try to get Mito to do anything.

Naruto was telling Itachi about the twins attempting their first game of ninja, after a late night training session, when Naruto felt someone trying to conceal their chakra signature.

' _It's not an ANBU, I recognize most of them, and this signature feels... excited? Very un-ANBU.'_ Naruto thought.

"What is it?" asked Itachi, noticing Naruto's sudden break in the story.

"I feel something strange going on west of here," said Naruto, "let's go."

The two genin sped towards the disturbance Naruto had felt, and as they got closer Naruto found that he was right to have been suspicious. The perpetrator had broken into the Hyuga compound and was making his getaway with a miniscule chakra signature in hand.

Naruto and Itachi caught up quickly and cut off the masked man with the small girl tucked underneath his arm. Naruto leapt to the man's side and sent a heavy round kick at his face. The man ducked underneath the kick only to receive a kick to the chest, courtesy of the Uchiha prodigy.

The kick loosened the man's grip on the Hyuga girl and Naruto quickly snatched her away. Making a kage bushin Naruto performed a quick kawarimi and the clone, now holding the white eyed girl, darted back to the Hyuga compound to return their heiress and return with backup.

Naruto and Itachi unsealed their swords and took their ready stances. Naruto held Odenta in a reverse grip down by his side and immediately rushed the masked man, while Itachi sent a single kunai with a sealing tag attached directly behind him.

Right before Naruto made to slash at the enemy, which the man was ready to block, he seamlessly replaced himself with the kunai at his back. With literally no time to react the man took the kunai directly to the chest. The flack jacket took the brunt of the impact, causing the kunai to barely scratch the enemy. Naruto, 2 feet behind the kunai, sent a hard push kick directly into the hilt of the knife, burying it deep inside the enemy's chest cavity.

Naruto was pushed away by the force of his own kick and made a single hand seal, releasing the ninja wire sealed within the tag. The masked man went wide eyed as the wire wrapped tightly around him, leaving him an immobile, bleeding, heap on the ground.

Hiashi had seen the engagement from afar, through his byakugan, and was speechless at the swiftness that the two children had dispatched the presumably powerful enemy shinobi. He had seen Naruto slip the kunai into Itachi's weapons pouch when he was snatching Hinata away. They worked together so well, it was like they were an extension of each other.

Kakashi had also arrived in time to witness what had transpired from the trees. ' _I thought Obito was mostly full of shit when he bragged about how good they were.'_ The engagement had only taken 15 seconds, and they had captured the enemy alive for questioning.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Hokage office, one hour later)**_

' _Thankfully nobody died,'_ thought the Yondaime Hokage, as he continued his staring contest with the hulking, dark skinned man sitting across from him. ' _This way Inoichi can get the truth out of the perpetrator and figure out where to go from there.'_ Unlike the man sitting across from him, the man known as A, and his only rival in speed, Minato was not the shoot first ask questions later type of leader. Minato was calculating, and in the past few years had become colder as well.

In the office with them was Kakashi, Hiashi, Naruto, Itachi, the third Kumo shinobi who accompanied A, as well as Hiruzen, and Konoha's war monger himself, Danzo. They had waited recounted what had occurred and A had stuck to his guns saying he had no idea of any plan to steal the byakugan.

"You really think that if we came for the byakugan we would have sent Yugi after him? I would have been able to capture her and be half way back to Kumo by now." the burly Raikage's son growled.

"If you truly were here for peace talks then you wouldn't have been so rude and difficult to deal with since you got here." replied Danzo curtly. To say Danzo was a suspicious man would be an understatement. "From what I've put together, it is clear you never intended to form an alliance, you only wished to steal one of Konoha's great Kekkei Genkai."

"I could give two shits about your precious kekkei genkai!" spat A. "Kumo has thrived as a great shinobi village without such crutches. To hell with them! Maybe Kiri has the right idea." A's eyes narrowed dangerously and his fists audibly clenched as his temper rose. "I'm telling you, I had no idea this would happen when I came here." In truth, A had only been so uncooperative in the peace negotiations because he was stubborn by nature, and acted on his feelings, mostly anger, more often than not.

Danzo would have scoffed, if not for his impeccable bearing, "and you really expect us to bel-"

"He's telling the truth." Naruto spoke up, growing tired of the pissing contest that was about to start anew. They had been here for nearly an hour now, and every 5 minutes this same argument reared its nasty head.

All eyes were now on the blonde child. "And how would you know that boy?" asked Danzo, clearly irked at being interrupted by a child.

"If he was lying I would feel his chakra 'shake'." said Naruto, doing his best to explain what lying felt like to his sensory jutsu, "but all I've felt from him... any of you... is the 'spike' that happens when people are angry."

Every shinobi in the room looked at Naruto curiously, everyone except for Hiruzen, Itachi, who were both well aware of how powerful Naruto's sensory capabilities were.

' _This runt was able to take down a high chunin with his friend in a matter of seconds, and now he's one of the most powerful sensors I've ever seen?'_ thought A, narrowing his eyes slightly. ' _Namikaze Naruto... you could be a problem in the future if negotiations go south.'_

' _I didn't know his sensory ability could do that...'_ thought Minato, ' _he could have a promising career in T &I.' _

Hiruzen eyed Danzo, who was scrutinizing the blonde boy. It was unsettling for Hiruzen to watch his arch rival study his surrogate grandson so intently, especially considering what Danzo's line of work involved. ' _I'm sure you'd love to have Naruto and Itachi in ROOT, but make any move on them and I will kill you myself.'_

Before anyone could question Naruto further, or continue their argument, Inoichi entered the Hokage's office. The blonde man cleared his throat before speaking, "A-sama had no idea about this plot. It seems that Yugi wanted the byakugan for himself and intended to go rogue and join 'Oto', whatever the hell that is, and get them surgically implanted."

"WHAT!?" A screamed, chakra flaring visibly, "WHERE IS THAT TRAITOROUS SCUM?"

Inoichi went wide eyed and choked on the sheer killing intent radiating off the monstrous man before him.

Minato came to his rescue, "A-san, forgive me, but I would prefer if we could interrogate him further so we can gather more information about this 'Oto' before you do what you see fit."

A grit his teeth and allowed himself to calm down and ease up on his killing intent allowing Inoichi, Naruto, and Itachi to breathe again. "Very well Hokage. If we are done here we can continue our negotiations tomorrow." A walked out of the room followed by his remaining companion without confirmation.

"You are all dismissed," said Minato. "Naruto, I would like to talk to you for a moment," He said, as everyone else filed out of the room.

Hiruzen and Itachi spared Naruto a glance, only continuing on their way after Naruto gestured that he was okay with the request. "Yes Hokage-sama?" said Naruto in a professional tone.

' _Hokage-sama? What's that about?'_ Minato thought before shrugging it off as his son acting like a green-horn. "How did you and Itachi defeat that man?"

Naruto knew what he meant, but decided to play dumb, "you heard the report, we retrieved Hinata then I-"

"I mean, he's supposed to be in the running for jounin. How is it that two fresh 7 year old genin defeated him so easily?"

' _You would know if you paid any fucking attention!'_ Naruto almost blurted, "I guess it was just luck. We surprised him and the man obviously saw us as no threat. We were able to capitalize on him underestimating our teamwork, ya know." He said calmly, leaking the verbal tic he used when he was getting emotional.

Minato studied his son for a moment longer, something didn't piece together but he decided to leave it for now. "Very well, go home and get some rest. Obito returns soon so you should be able to start taking missions again shortly."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Naruto said before he shunshined away.

"And when the hell did he learn to shunshin? Without hand seals too? I'm going to have to have a talk with Hiruzen-sama and Obito." Minato said to himself before rereading a note sent to him from Obito.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in Suna, with Obito)**_

The Kazekage could not fault Obito and his team, or Konoha for these deaths, but that didn't mean he couldn't be pissed. Yes, shinobi often ran into each other while on missions, and because villages kept their mission information secret, there was no way to know that the two teams were on conflicting missions until first blood had already been drawn. Really the only reason he was upset was because his sister and his brother-in-law had been two of the casualties.

"Very well. Thank you for returning the bodies Obito-san. Tell your Hokage that relations between our two villages will not change because of this incident. As unfortunate as it is... I suppose that, sadly, these things happen." said the Kazekage. ' _The time for revenge will come... just not yet.'_

XXX END CHAPTER 10 XXX

So sorry if the scene with Ayame and Naruto was kind of lame, I'm not super comfortable writing emotional crap, hell man, I haven't cried for 6 years. Those lame emotions like sadness and love and shit really aren't my thing but I'll do my best. Suggestions or constructive criticism on that front would be greatly appreciated, that way I can make it less cringe worthy in the future.

Anywho... Ayame and Naruto won't be getting together this early, that's gross, just wait for after the timeskip, which should be coming in a few chapters, depending on how long the chunin exams take.

So Naruto and Itachi whooped ol' boy's ass, and everyone is like "god damn, don't fuck with these kids," and Minato's over here like "what~". Minato is finally starting to notice his son's kind of the shit, is it soon enough to start repairing his relationship with his son? Or will he just brush this information off too? Hey Minato's a busy guy, he's got a lot going on.

And Oto? I thought Madara killed Orochimaru. What could have happened?

Find out next time on dragon ba- I mean Guardians of Konoha


	11. Chapter 11: Pride of Konoha

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 11: The pride of Konoha

 _ **(One month after the Hyuga Incident)**_

Negotiations had ended with the Kumo representatives and things were looking up. Kumo and Konoha had come to an agreement and now a formal alliance was in the works, and on top of that, Suna had agreed that no retaliatory measures would be taken due to the events in Kanto. Iwa still hated everyone and Kiri was in the midst of a civil war, but that being said a 3 village alliance looked good as far as hope for peace went.

Obito had returned from Suna and immediately threw his students into a hellish training routine. They would exercise from 0500 until 1100 to build up their stamina, these 6 hour training montages were supervised by Konoha's very own Maito Guy. Naruto and Itachi adjusted relatively well to the new training regiment, although they were left entirely drained at the end of each session and were barely able to walk on their own after the past 3 weeks of nonstop training. Kabuto, on the other hand, was on death's doorstep by 0900 each day, but somehow managed to continue with the other two genin. If not for Tsunade the boys wouldn't have been able to continue after the second day. And the days only kept getting harder.

Obito decided that their teamwork was exceptional so chose to spend the time after lunch developing their individual techniques, whether it be taijutsu, kinjutsu, fuinjutsu, ninjutsu, or genjutsu. Needless to say they all opted out of taijutsu training with Guy-sensei still in such close proximity.

Itachi was training in the kinjutsu style that many of his sword wielding clansmen prefered, while Naruto was still struggling to develop something of his own. Konoha didn't have many who were proficient enough with swords to actually teach but luckily for Naruto, Konoha shinobi weren't the only shinobi in the village at the time. He had noticed that A's bodyguard, a dark skinned blonde man with tattoos on either shoulder, wielded a katana.

One day, after a particularly hellish day of training, Naruto sought out said man.

 _Flashback:_

Naruto could sense the location of A very easily, a man with so much chakra and no sense to try to conceal it was not difficult to find for the young sensor. Oddly enough Naruto found the Goliath of a man and his comrade at his own favored dining establishment. Naruto entered the ramen stand to find that A had consumed an ungodly amount of ramen, nearly 40 bowls worth.

"Now this is the best ramen I have ever tasted!" A exclaimed. Teuchi and Ayame merely looked on in wonder as A finished his 40th bowl. His comrade was sitting quietly at his side enjoying his own bowl of beef ramen.

"They don't make it like this in Kumo, do they A-san." the tattooed man said, "although I think our gyoza is better." Teuchi's eye twitched slightly, the quality of his gyoza was a touchy subject for him.

Naruto decided to go for the bold approach. After ordering his own food of course. "Hello Teuchi-ojiisan, can I get a large miso ramen with extra pork and Naruto fish cakes?" he asked as he took a seat next to the man he came to see.

"Sorry Naruto-kun, we're all out."

"Oh... Ok can I get a large duck ramen with extra duck?

"No I mean we're completely out of food." the middle aged ramen chef said.

"WHAT!?" Naruto snapped his head to the left and glared at the large man sitting two seats over. The sight of Naruto glaring daggers at a man 10 times his size, leaning over the other stranger was a comical sight for Ayame, who let out a giggle.

"What're you looking at brat?" asked A, pulling out his wallet to pay.

"You know damn well what! You ate all the ramen!" Naruto yelled. The swordsman stuck his finger in his ear to stop it from ringing.

"Well I have to eat a lot in order to recover from my training, not that a runt like you would know much about that." said A goading the boy he recognized as Minato's prodigal son.

"I do know about training dammit! That's why I'm here!"

A raised an eyebrow curiously before exploding into a fit of boisterous laughter, "get a look at this, the Hokage's brat asking a Kumo shinobi for training! No, no I won't train you, no matter how much of a middle finger it'd be to your father. You and I simply don't have compatible styles."

Naruto's eye twitched, "not you," said Naruto pointing to the other man, "him."

It was the other blonde's turn to raise his eyebrow now, "me?"

"Yeah you! I need a kinjutsu teacher and Konoha doesn't have many of those to go around."

The swordmaster pondered the request for a moment, "why do you want to be a swordsman? Or better yet, why do you want me to train you? You're an Uzumaki, that clan is renowned for their kinjutsu prowess."

Naruto's eyes hardened, "because when I become the strongest shinobi in Konoha history I don't want _them_ to be able to say they had anything to do with it." He received a shocked look from all due to his blunt and rather contemptuous statement.

Naruto's eyes were hard and full of determination. After another moment of consideration he looked over to A who nodded slightly. "I don't know how much longer we'll be in Konoha, but until our departure you can call me Darui-sensei."

 _End flashback._

Naruto had trained with Darui late into the night for just over 2 weeks before they had to head back to Kumo. During that time Naruto had all but mastered basic kinjutsu. Darui and A were both astonished by how quickly the Konoha prodigy picked up on the art, he had reached a level that it normally would have taken months, if not years, for the average shinobi to attain. If not for A's rivalry with Minato he may have regretted allowing Darui to train the Hokage's son, but he couldn't have been more elated after learning of the poor relationship the two had.

They had not left Naruto with nothing either; Darui had given Naruto scrolls for a long forgotten style, Shinmei Muso Ryu. The style wasn't used anymore because of its difficulty to master, along with the lack of masters to teach it.

Darui had told Naruto that the shinmei muso ryu was supposed to be very fast and hard hitting. While fast it also required accuracy and near perfect timing to master, with wide powerful slashes it relied on a lot of misdirection.

Naruto had also been taught to channel chakra into his blade to increase its cutting power, and was told that elemental chakra would have an even greater effect; luckily for Naruto, one of his elements was wind, the element with the greatest cutting potential.

Naruto had noticed a fatal flaw in the style, in that it left him open to be picked apart by faster more agile enemies, the larger foes would not be a problem if he could get past their guard. Naruto was training to mitigate the weakness by using his scabbard in his left hand to be used as a blunt striking weapon, and a tool for blocking.

The three genin had also developed a few new ninjutsu over the past month: with their chakra reserves at an appropriate level they were now all capable of producing kage bushin effectively. Kabuto, being the physically weakest, could only produce 3 before they were no longer a viable option, Itachi was up to 12, while Naruto was able to produce over 20 before becoming too fatigued to fight. Aside from that they all began to develop more of their elemental jutsu: Itachi learned a plethora of new katon techniques from his clan, Kabuto was just starting to use his suiton affinity and had discovered he could use suiton to further advance his medical ninjutsu, and Naruto was learning a multitude of B and C rank jutsu for all of his affinities.

"You all are doing well, even by prodigy standards," said Obito, smiling at how far his already talented genin team had come over the past three months. "It seems to me that you all have outgrown your current rank, so I would like to talk to you about the next step in your careers." said the one eyed Uchiha.

The three boys looked at their sensei attentively so he just continued. "The chunin exams are coming up in just over a month. Kumo will be hosting it this time around and has extended an invitation to Konoha as a sign of good faith."

Kabuto and Itachi nodded in understanding.

"One month!? Damn! That's barely any time at all! I wanted to master Shinmei Muso Ryu before I saw A-san and Darui-sensei again!" Naruto whined.

"Naruto, you're 8 years old, nobody expects you, or anyone else for that matter, to master a long forgotten and extremely high level kenjutsu in just two months. And without a Master to teach you no less. I'm sure A and Darui will be more than satisfied with your progression."

"Fine." Naruto grumbled crossing his arms, receiving a chuckle from Kabuto and an eye roll from Itachi.

"Here, fill these out," Obito handed the three the exam entry forms, "and for the next month we will continue training to prepare you for the exams."

The three genin took the forms and looked them over, "hey, this says the responsible village is not responsible for any deaths that may occur during the exam." Naruto said.

"These exams should not be taken lightly. People die in the exams almost every time they come around." Obito informed them. They all nodded, unfazed by the prospect of being put in a life or death situation when faced with older more experienced genin.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(the training grove, with Naruto and Itachi, one month later)**_

The two teammates and best friends stood on opposite sides of their old training ground, their swords were drawn and they were panting, completely soaked in sweat. They had decided to have one final spar before heading off to Kumo for the exams.

News that a rookie team of underage genin (Naruto and Itachi age 8, and Kabuto age 10) were going to what would be the largest chunin exam in recent memory, spread across Konoha like wildfire. You could thank Tsunade's boisterous bragging about her favorite genin team for that. The three soon became known as 'the pride of Konoha', a title none of them were particularly comfortable with.

Naruto and Itachi stared each other down, both completely drained of chakra and on their last leg. Itachi's black eyes, no longer able to hold the sharingan active, and Naruto's blue ones locked and both boys rushed at the other one last time. They pounded their feet against the scorched earth of the new crater they had made, before their knees simultaneously buckled forcing the two best friends to land flat on their faces.

"I would've gotten you," Naruto grunted, completely exhausted.

"Yeah right, like you ever stood a chance," Itachi jabbed back jokingly.

"Aww, what the hell guys." Kabuto said as he walked through the trees. "You know, I could hear the explosions all they way from the Senju compound." Kabuto had been training in medical ninjutsu under Tsunade's tutelage for the past month.

"We're just having a friendly spar." Naruto groaned, face still pressed up against the blackened earth.

' _How the hell is he talking like that? How is he even breathing like that?'_ Whatever, Naruto was an enigma to most, "only you two would call _this_ ," Kabuto motioned to the surrounding area, for nobody's benefit but his own, "as a 'friendly' spar." Kabuto sighed as all he received in return was an amused grunt from both of his friends. "How fucked up are you two this time?"

A pained groan was their only reply. Kabuto sighed and opened the water skin on his hip and drew out some of the medicated water and sent it to heal his teammates. Infusing some of his healing chakra into the water he immediately got to work on their injuries. Both Naruto and Itachi sighed in relief until they were able to sit up on their own after several minutes.

"Training with Tsunade-sama is coming along well then?" asked Itachi rhetorically as he massaged his still aching muscles. That spar had lasted for hours... he was going to feel this in the morning.

"Yes, with the mizu no chiyu gijutsu (water healing technique) I should be able to seamlessly heal the two of you in the middle of a battle if need be." Kabuto smiled.

"That's so fucking cool!" Naruto exclaimed, "I swear, we've got to be the most badass team of all time!"

Both Itachi and Kabuto beamed at the analysis. It was hard to argue with that logic.

' _I wonder... is this what friendship feels like...'_ Kabuto thought to himself. For the first time in his life he truly felt... accepted? Loved? Wanted? He liked it.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(10 days later, Kumo)**_

Team 5 had finally arrived in Kumo after a week of travel. None of them had ever seen anything like it; the festivities were in full swing, and the streets were crowded with people, both shinobi and civilian, from all over the elemental nations.

"Like I said, largest chunin exams in recent memory." said Obito to his longshot team.

"Whatever, they're going to take it all." said Tsunade, who couldn't resist venturing to Kumo to support her favorite group of genin.

"You three go enjoy the festival and find me no later than 2000 tonight. The first exam starts at 1000 tomorrow. I'll go check us in." Said Obito.

It didn't take Naruto long to find what he was looking for, the ramen stand that supposedly had the best gyoza in the entire elemental nations. "Hello, can I get a large miso pork ramen with extra pork and 5 orders of gyoza?" Naruto asked the dark skinned waitress behind the counter.

"Coming right up," she said, "you three don't look like you're from around here, did you come for the festival?"

Naruto pointed his thumb at his headband with a big smile on his face, "nope! We're here to win this thing!"

The girl behind the stand looked at the three Konoha genin with a puzzled look on her face, "but you're so young, you can't be older than 9."

"8 actually. Well except for Kabuto, he's 10." Naruto said eyes squinted.

"Really? How?" the girl was genuinely curious as to how these three kids were already testing to become chunin, where most didn't achieve the rank until they were twice their age.

"You'll just have to watch and see us win this whole thing," Naruto said cryptically.

The teenage girl smiled at them, she liked them and kind of hoped they did win. "Okay, what'll it be for you too then?"

"What do you want to do now?" Asked Itachi after they left the ramen stand. Naruto was had a bulging belly from all the gyoza he'd eaten.

"How about we... ugh... find some games we can play," Naruto suggested, struggling to speak after overeating so much. That gyoza truly was delicious.

"Sounds good to me," said Kabuto as he led the group to some shuriken throwing games.

Itachi made quick work of the targets, winning game after game. He had drawn quite the crowd and had won most of the prizes from the stand. He was left with a huge stack of stuffed animals as winnings.

"Hah, you want a storage scroll for those Itachi?" asked Naruto.

Itachi smiled and started handing out his winnings to the younger members of the crowd that had gathered to watch. He received some squeals from some of the girls around their age, but mostly looks of gratitude from parents and looks of awe and admiration from the younger kids. "Beat that Naruto," Itachi challenged after distributing the last of his prizes.

"Heh, choose the game."

"You just want to see me get pelted with balls didn't you," Naruto said as they stood in front of the batting cages.

Itachi shrugged, "you said I get to choose. Do you forfeit?"

"Yeah right, give me the bat mister!"

Itachi handed the man the money, "turn it all the way up please," Itachi said quietly.

The man smirked and did as he was asked. Naruto got in the batter's box and a ball immediately hit him in the face as soon as he turned around. "WHAT THE HE-" another ball hit him and got stuck in his mouth.

Itachi let out a hearty laugh, "You have to hit the balls Naruto!" The next ball flew directly at Itachi after a loud crack from the contact with the bat. Itachi's eyes widened, ' _good thing there's a net there.'_

Naruto found his groove after his first two misses, and he didn't miss again until the machine finally puttered out. The man running the stand was on his knees crying as Naruto passed out his prizes similar to how Itachi had, however he kept four for himself. ' _One for Ayame, one for each of the twins, and one for the new baby when she's born.'_ Naruto still loved his siblings, they weren't at fault, and he had promised Ayame to bring her something back before he had left to Kumo. "And this one's for Ayame-chan," he said as he sealed a stuffed flaming blue cat twice his size into a scroll. He ignored the jealous growls many of the girls let out when they heard him say he was saving the best prize for some other girl.

"All right Kabuto, your turn, what do you want to play?" Asked Itachi.

Kabuto led them to a stand where he had to use a paper net to fish out goldfish from a bowl. He too dominated at this game thanks to his mastery of suiton and delicate touch, but drew a far smaller crowd due to the game being far less action packed. Because of a single 4 year old girl was the proud owner of 40 new goldfish.

For the rest of their free time the boys simply wandered the village, fully aware of the three girls following them around, before making their way back to Obito to go over what they might be doing the next day.

XXX END CHAPTER 11 XXX

Finally, the chunin exams are here!

Again, not a whole lot happened this chapter. We got a training montage, and Naruto now has a kenjutsu style unlike any other. In case you're curious Shinmei Muso Ryu is a real kenjutsu from the 16th century, when the katana became the weapon of choice for the samurai class, but it has since evolved into more of a sport in japan known as battojutsu after the fall of the samurai's prominence and the end of the shogun rule.

Yeah, Kabuto's healing style is like Katara from Avatar the last airbender. Don't care what you say, Katara is bae.

I kind of brushed over team 5's popularity in Konoha, but just to be clear, they're like the most popular genin in the village. Pretty much they're more popular than Neji and Sasuke were during the chunin exams in canon.

What will happen in the biggest chunin exam in decades? What's the first test going to be? What other familiar faces will we see? I mean seriously, _everyone is there,_ except Kiri... they're busy with a mass genocide.

Can't wait to write Killer B! My own rap skills will be able to portray his shitty rhymes perfectly!


	12. Chapter 12: The Chunin Exams begin!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 12: The exams begin!

 _ **(Hotel, with team 5)**_

Kumo had the good sense to keep the participants of each village in separate hotels. The Konoha hotel was abuzz in the north east side of the village. Konoha had sent 12 genin teams, two of which were rookie teams. Team 5 was currently in their room discussing what they could expect for the first test.

"I bet we'll have to defeat some crazy monster," said Naruto, matter of factly. He had adopted his contemplative squinty eyed look.

"I doubt it. They probably want to make a spectacle out of our fighting ability as always. They're going to measure other aspects of being a shinobi." said Itachi, in his own contemplative pose. "Whatever it is it'll have a twist. We just have to keep our eyes open for one."

"Well either way, I've been working on something I'm sure will come in handy no matter what." Naruto said with a confident grin.

"We're all ears Naruto-kun." Said Kabuto.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(the next day, Kumo academy)**_

They had all been told to meet in room 315 for the first exam, and although team 5 had expected some kind of twist they didn't think it'd be so simple... or so effective. There was a pretty obvious genjutsu on the second floor that made you believe you saw room 315 instead of 215. Naruto had sensed it right away, Kabuto and Itachi, both being very apt with genjutsu, were also able to spot it very quickly. They just made their way up another flight of stairs to the correct classroom.

This room was relatively empty, which was to be expected, they had shown up fairly early, so team 5 made their way to desk in one of the middle rows.

Over the next half hour other teams began to filter in. Team 5 immediately noticed that they were the youngest team present, by far. The next youngest team looked to be comprised of 13 year olds, 5 years older than Naruto and Itachi, while the oldest teams had shinobi who looked to be in their late teens to early twenties. None of the other teams failed to take notice of team 5 either, though nobody confronted them, there were only whispers of "the Hokage's kid", "the Uchiha prodigy', "they defeated Pakura of the sand", and other things along those lines.

The whispers weren't quiet by any means, and soon blossomed into full volume conversations. It irked Naruto to no end that they all thought he was powerful just because of who his parents were, and Itachi was also bothered by the credit for his strength being solely attributed to his clan. Naruto was about to get up and give them all a piece of his mind before he was held down by his sleeve.

Naruto looked over to see Kabuto sitting calmly. "Now is not the time Naruto-kun." he said calmly, "let them talk. You'll both be able to show them that your power is yours alone when the time comes."

Naruto and Itachi relaxed and continued to quietly take stalk of who was saying what about them, and soon grew more aggravated at what was being said about the other.

Before long a group of bulky Iwa genin came up to team 5 with cruel smiles on their faces. All eyes in the room were on the two groups.

Naruto looked up at the older boy, who he assumed was around 16, "can we help you?"

"Yeah, those seats are ours. Beat it runts."

"Wow... that was a seriously lame attempt at bullying us. What's next, you going to give us wedgies and dunk our heads in the toilets?" Naruto said with a slight bit of sarcasm.

The supposed leader of the Iwa group narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Listen here brat, you better watch what you say to me! I've been a shinobi since before you even played your first game of ninja."

"You must be a pretty shitty shinobi then. Less than six months as genin and my team is already here and ready to kick all your asses." Naruto said in an even tone.

A tick mark appeared on top of the older Iwa genins reddening face, "What did you just say to me? Are you asking for me to fuck you up?"

"Fucking try it," Naruto said hotly as he let loose his killing intent. The pure pressure from the blonde's killing intent was enough to cause most of the genin, the large Iwa teenager included, to choke and caused many others to pass out.

Itachi took note of those who seemed unfazed by Naruto's killing intent, ' _that's our competition,'_ he thought as he counted 8 teams in total. ' _Two from Konoha, not including us, one from Suna, two from Kumo, one from Iwa, and one from Taka.'_

Kabuto placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder to calm him down once more. Releasing the pressure of his killing intent Naruto watched the rest of the room gasp to catch their breaths. ' _That should serve as a good enough warning for them to not fuck with us.'_ Naruto thought.

The Iwa teenager sulked back into a corner and averted his gaze from everyone else.

Another 10 minutes passed before the first exam proctor walked in. "Well I'm glad to see nobody has killed each other yet," joked the beautiful white haired Kumo woman. "I'd like to begin by congratulating you all on making it this far, to even have the chance to become a chunin is no small feat, however the following tests may prove to be your greatest challenges thus far. So I warn you, no matter how powerful you think you are, don't take these exams lightly.

She looked around, satisfied at the worried looks she received from her ominous warning. "Okay then," she said with a smile, "let's get started." She made a hand seal and name tags appeared in front of every seat. "Go ahead and find your seats."

After everyone had found their assigned seats proctors began to pass out sheets of paper, face down, and writing utensils. "The instructions for the first test are on the reverse side of the paper, when I tell you you will have one hour to complete the first exam... Begin."

Every genin immediately flipped the paper over and read two lines of instructions across the top of the paper. _Name one member of your team to be dropped from the exams. All members of your team must answer the same or the entire team is dropped._

Naruto could feel a panic in the air. Not his team however; all of team 5 simply flipped the paper back over and proceeded to sit and wait, resigned to whatever fate they'd sealed for themselves. ' _Those who break the rules are scum, but those who turn their back on their comrades are worse than scum.'_ Naruto thought with a smile, they'd all heard Obito-sensei's words on their first day as a team and all of team 5 was confident that the other two would not abandon the other.

The white haired proctor looked on at the panicking faces of the examiners, some were already scribbling down the names of their teammates, while others looked to be on the verge of a mental breakdown. She smiled as she studied the room until her gaze landed on the trio of team 5. The youngest examiners present were sitting calmly, eyes forward, wearing expressionless, almost bored masks. ' _Either they've already figured it out, or they're the dumbest group here.'_ she thought as she locked eyes with the three boys one at a time, ' _so they've already figured it out.'_ she couldn't help but chuckle, which she played off as sadistic humor. Darui had told her that these boys were something special.

The hour had gone by slowly for most. Naruto had decided to get some training in and focused his sensor abilities on the other examinees; for the most part he'd felt panic, fear, confusion etcetera, but in a few cases he felt sadistic pleasure in screwing over teammates. Some of the genin seemed sorrowfully resigned to their fate as the odd man out, while others seemed to vehemently resent the test all together. This first exam had caused more turmoil amongst the genin than Naruto had thought it would; team 5 was the only team that had not flinched whatsoever, other teams had followed suit soon after but had ultimately considered the question at the start.

Itachi was watching with his sharingan as the test went on. He had seen some teams passing answers using jutsu, and he had watched the reactions of the odd man out in these cases. There weren't any angry outbursts, to his surprise, but Naruto would most likely have been the one to do so had he not figured it out so quickly. ' _I'm really glad he's not as dumb as he acts sometimes.'_

At the end of the hour the proctor called time and the papers were collected and sorted into teams. The proctor began calling out results. Those who answered 'Nobody' or left it blank passed, those where the entire team had voted off one member lost the member that had been voted off, and the teams who had voted off several members failed altogether.

By the end of the first exam 40% of the teams were gone, and another 30% were down by one member. Not bad.

The classroom was silent, nobody had expected for the examinees to have been weeded out so effectively so early. The door in the back of the classroom opened and in walked a dark skinned man with bleach blonde hair with tattoo's on each shoulder.

"Good morning," said Darui, as he looked around the classroom, ' _so Naruto's team made_

 _it, not that I expected anything less,'_ he thought with an internal smile. "My name is Darui, and I will be your proctor for the second test." Proctors began to pass out maps of the village (not too detailed, obviously), "you will all meet me at the location marked with an 'X' in half an hour to receive your brief for the second portion of your test." Darui disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Team 5 was the first to take off after receiving their map.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(edge of the mountain, half an hour later)**_

Everyone had made it with plenty of time to spare. It wasn't necessarily a test in and of itself but the ability to read and navigate with a map was important for a chunin. "The second portion of the exam will be a survival test," explained Darui, "within one week you will have to reach a tower located 50 miles south of here. The first 10 teams to arrive will move onto the third round preliminaries." Darui paused to allow the genin a chance to absorb the informations thus far. "The terrain is rugged, and beware the wildlife... the creatures in this valley are not known to be hospitable to outsiders. Also beware of any surprises along the way." Darui took one last look at the crowd, "are there any last questions?"

"can we kill?" asked a Suna genin.

"If it comes to that... you all signed a waiver," the Suna boy's eyes turned to glare at team 5. "Is there anything else? Going once. Twice. Very well... Begin!"

Most teams leapt off the cliff's edge, but team 5 and the Suna team that was so dead set on violence stayed. "You killed our sensei." Growled the leader of the Suna group, a tall 14 year old boy with spiky brown hair and a large bandaged object on his back. His face was covered in a white veil that only showed beady black eyes, scrutinizing the children before him.

"And?" taunted Itachi, uncharacteristically. "They attacked us first." He was growing tired of this line of questioning already.

The Suna genin looked at the proctors, "see you in the valley." He growled before he and his team leapt off the cliff.

"Is everyone coming for our heads?" Asked Naruto in an annoyed tone.

"Seems like it," replied Itachi.

Team 5 followed the lead of all the other teams and leapt off the edge of the cliff. It was a long drop but it was at a pretty steep incline which allowed the teams of genin to catch themselves and run down the last 60 ft of the cliff.

When they reached the bottom they found the terrain to be just as Darui had said, rugged. The mountain had previously been home to a massive glacier if the deep ravines and dried out riverbeds were anything to go by, and it looked to be sitting on a tectonic plate from the way that rocks jutted steeply from cracks in the ground. The entire area was rocky, any noise would echo for miles, but the direction of the sound would be distorted due to the cliff walls that extended on either side of the valley. The ravines would provide the most cover, but would serve as a natural choke point for those traveling within it. The high ground would silhouette them and make them easy targets for an ambush. Their best bet was to follow the cliff wall for now, that way they would only have to expect an attack from one direction.

Along the way down the valley Kabuto decided to do them one better and wall walk several stories up the cliff wall. This protected them from attack from just about every direction, even though Naruto could sense the other teams from miles away, and it gave them an excellent view of their area of operations.

They could already hear resounding clangs of metal on metal, "sounds like someone is trying to weed out the competition already." Said Kabuto quietly, so that his voice didn't carry.

"Stupid." muttered Naruto, "They're just tiring themselves out, and if they get injured they still have 50 miles of this to go," he gestured to the mountain valley that lay before them.

"Just so we're all clear, our plan is to get there as quickly as possible and try to avoid confrontation as much as possible." said Itachi. The other two team 5 members nodded in affirmation. "Good. Naruto, how far can you sense unknown chakra signatures?"

"Almost a mile for the stronger genin. The weak ones and those actively suppressing their chakra, _maybe_ a quarter mile at best, there's a lot of interference here."

"What do you mean interference?" asked Itachi, activating his sharingan to take a look for himself, "I don't see anything."

"It's hard to explain, but I feel some sort of energy from the ground and the air around here. It's acting like static to my sensor ability."

"Well a mile is plenty. I doubt any genin will be able to suppress their chakra in this terrain and expect to move around effectively for long. And anyone with very weak chakra signatures probably won't be too much of a threat." Itachi said. "Kabuto, can you cast a genjutsu that will make it harder to find us?"

"Nothing that I can keep active for long. If Naruto senses an enemy I can activate it quickly though."

"Good," Itachi pulled out the map and studied it for a moment, "It looks like this cliff is only a viable option for the next two miles, after that it starts to curve east and take us out of the way. When we get off the cliff we have a few miles before we reach any trees we can use for cover." Itachi pointed to the treeline on the map. "To the west of the treeline there is this winding river," Itachi pointed to a curving blue line to the left of where he was pointing previously, "that flows directly to the tower." Naruto and Kabuto both nodded in understanding. "We will avoid that river at all costs. Most teams are going to follow that path and we don't want to run into them."

"The forest will be thicker and more difficult to navigate," pointed out Kabuto, "and it will be home to the animals Darui-san warned us about."

"We'll worry about that when the time comes. Our goal for today is to make it to the forest before nightfall." Instructed Itachi.

With that they took off running along the cliff face.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(1700, edge of the forest)**_

"Darui-sensei didn't say the terrain would be this hellish," complained Naruto. He sat up on a high tree branch and shook the rocks out of his sandals, "I swear, without chakra those 6 miles would have taken us an entire day!"

"It doesn't look any easier from here," said Kabuto who was applying healing chakra to his aching thighs. They all looked into what was the thickest forest any of them had ever seen. The trees were huge, the smallest being at least 8 feet in diameter and standing nearly 100 feet tall. The canopy was overrun so thickly with evergreen branches that tree hopping wasn't looking like an option. That would almost triple their travel time. The forest floor was far less overgrown, but the ground was not even by any means. There were steep hills and miniature cliffs everywhere, and on top of that, thick roots protruded from the ground every several feet. "Just looking at this place gives me an uneasy feeling. Those giant animals could be hiding anywhere."

"Naruto, can you sense anything?" Asked Itachi.

"Barely, the interference is getting stronger." Naruto felt very uneasy without his sixth sense that he'd had for as long as he could remember, but at the same time the 'interference he felt was intriguing. It felt powerful and welcoming, but he got the feeling that it could be dangerous somehow.

Itachi activated his sharingan, he would have to keep it active until Naruto regained his sensor abilities.

Itachi caught a glimpse of movement to his left and was barely able to react before a thick white thread shot at him. He jumped out of the way and sent a dozen shuriken in the direction of his attacker. A shrill shriek came from a massive 8 foot black spider as the shuriken lodged themselves into its eyes. The spider reared up and shot several balls of webs at the Uchiha.

Naruto unsealed Odenta and rushed at the giant arachnid and sliced off four of its legs on its right side. The spider lost its grip on the tree and fell 30 feet to the ground and crashed into the root covered forest floor with a sickening crunch. The spider laid there with its legs twitching for several moments before enough yellow blood like substance oozed out of its broken exoskeleton and caused it to die.

"God, I hate spiders," mumbled Itachi with a shiver.

"I see what Darui-sensei was talking about," said Naruto, referencing the giant creature. "So, what's the plan?"

"Well, we're not taking the forest floor, that's for sure." Said Itachi, pulling out the map. "We could try to go around the forest, but there's no guarantee that we'd make the time limit. There's always the river, but I'm in no hurry to see what giant creatures live there, plus we'd have to fight our way through other teams if we took that path..."

"I might have another idea." Said Naruto cryptically.

Twenty minutes later Naruto resealed his calligraphy brush inside the storage seal on his wrist. "There, now even though I can't sense anything these sensory seals will do the job for us." Naruto explained the seals he had drawn on the back of each of their hands. "All you have to do is apply chakra to the seal and it will sense for you. It won't tell you the direction of the treat but it will get warm if there is something near us."

Itachi and Kabuto both looked satisfied, "What's the chakra cost like?" asked Kabuto.

"The more chakra you put in the further the seal will sense," said Naruto, "all it does is sense ambient chakra given off by people and animals, the more powerful the chakra the warmer the seal will get." He explained, "Oh! Hands in!" Itachi and Kabuto complied skeptically. Naruto released a small flow of chakra into their seals, they both felt their seals warm up. "Now Itachi," after Itachi did the same Kabuto followed suit. "There, now the seal will recognize all of our chakra's and won't react to any of us."

"To be safe we should have one of us using the seal at all times," said Itachi, "an hour at a time when we're moving, and two hours when we stop for the night." Naruto and Kabuto nodded in affirmation, "Let's set up camp for the night, we don't have much daylight left and we need to set up a perimeter."

Kabuto and Itachi both activated a weak genjutsu that would subtly influence those who came across the campsite to head off in another direction. Naruto had set up seals in a 20 yard perimeter designed to activate a gust of wind that would violently blow intruders away if they were to happen across the campsite.

"I'll take the first watch," said Itachi. It was only 1800 but the sun had set behind the tall imposing mountains to the west. As they'd suspected, the forest was even more treacherous after sundown.

They didn't find any strong presence within their perimeter, but Naruto and Kabuto both found it difficult to sleep. ' _I wonder how the other teams are holding up?'_ wondered Naruto.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Ox horn Bar, Kumo)**_

"Are you sure it was a good idea to hold the second exam _there_?" the first exam proctor asked Darui.

"Don't worry Mabui-chan. There's no twist to the second exam, they just have to survive and make it to the Red Tower." said Darui, sipping sake from his saucer.

"Yes, I know, but that valley is..." she trailed off looking down at her own saucer of sake.

"Look, any shinobi worth their metal would be able to survive a week in there, and we have ANBU patrolling the valley to ward off some of the more... aggressive animals."

"I guess you're right... I'm just worried about Yugito-chan and Samui-chan, that's all."

Darui let out a boisterous laugh, "if one of those two don't face off against Naruto in the finals I'd challenge Bee-sama to a rap battle on the spot!"

Mabui giggled at the thought of her boyfriend in a rap battle with Killer Bee, "I'd like to see that," she said with an alcohol induced blush, "but what makes you so confident with that Konoha kid? I know he's the Yondaime Hokage's son, but he didn't look overly impressive when I saw him in the first exam."

"Him being Minato-sama's son has nothing to do with it." Darui said seriously, "in fact, he'd resent you for just bringing it up."

Mabui gave Darui a puzzled look. "Why would that be?"

"From what his sensei told me, neither Naruto's mother or father have provided any training to the boy whatsoever. He told A-sama and me that they hardly ever see or talk to the boy at all. When we were in Konoha and Naruto and Itachi took down Yugi with such ease, the Hokage seemed just as shocked as the rest of us. The only one who didn't seem surprised at all was the Sandaime Hokage."

Mabui's pretty face curled into a mixture of shock and anger. "Why would they do that to him?"

"I don't know... but that kid is a prodigy if I've ever seen one, and he doesn't train like one either. He picks up on things faster than I've ever seen someone learn anything, and he'll grind until he gets it perfect." Said Darui with a small amount of pride in his short time student. "That kid is going to be something else, Mabui-chan. I just hope Kumo and Konoha never become enemies during his lifetime."

Darui had never been one to relish the idea of being anyone's teacher, and seeing him talk about a student with such praise brought a smile to Mabui's already beautiful face.

"What?" asked Darui, catching sight of Mabui's smile.

"Nothing," said the beautiful Kumo kunoichi as her smile turned into a seductive grin. "Now finish your drink so we can get out of here," she said in a husky voice, she squeezed her cleavage together and batted her eyelashes to accentuate her point.

Darui downed the rest of his sake and threw his money down on the counter before grabbing hold of Mabui's dainty wrist and shunshining back to his apartment.

XXX END CHAPTER 12 XXX

Nothing to say here. No authors notes this time around, sorry.


	13. Chapter 13: Stranger Danger

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 13: Stranger danger!

 _ **(Edge of the forest 0700)**_

The sun rose into the autumn sky. It was a brisk morning, but nothing was as refreshing to team 5 after such a nerve wracking night as the chilly fresh mountain air. The safety precautions had worked perfectly, although no enemy shinobi had found their way near their camp, they had a few close encounters with the wildlife that had been warded off by Itachi's and Kabuto's genjutsu. Naruto was only slightly disappointed that his seals didn't get the chance to blow some animals away.

Team 5 was packed up and ready to go in minutes, wasting no time to put as much distance between them and the other teams as possible. Naruto would have been annoyed by the fact that they had to stop for the night, had it not been so painfully obvious that trying to traverse the forest after dark was all but a death sentence, even if he was able to use his sensory jutsu.

Naruto's stomach began to growl, he unsealed several rice balls from the storage seal on his wrist and tossed one each to his teammates, keeping one for himself.

"How much did you pack into that little seal?" asked Kabuto.

"It's not so little," said Naruto with a chuckle in between bites. "See this ring on the outside?" he asked, pointing at a ring of runes circumventing the storage seal. "That's a compacting seal," he explained, "normally you'd need one of those big ass sealing scrolls for this storage seal, but with this ring I compacted it down to the size of my wrist."

"Wow... then why do people even bother carrying around those scrolls?"

"Most people don't know much about fuinjutsu," Naruto explained, "and most of those who do never bother to learn past level 1, which is pretty much basic item sealing. I'm most of the way through level 4 so I can seal basic jutsu's into seals, make containment seals like this one," he pointed at the compacting seal once more, "and combine some basic seals to work together. Those sensor seals are about as complicated as I can make right now, and even those are pretty poor quality compared to what they have the potential to do." Kabuto nodded in understanding, "to make it better I'd have to add a navigation seal to it as well as some chakra filters and a modified communication seal to tell you the what and where, along with a more detailed report."

"That's incredible..." Kabuto whispered, he was getting an idea of how powerful fuinjutsu had the potential to be. "Do you think you could teach me some stuff?" he asked earnestly.

"Of course!" Naruto exclaimed, "after all, knowledge is useless if you don't pass it on!" he said with a smile.

"Okay Hiruzen-sama, can we get back to the mission now," Itachi joked at the quote that clearly came from the professor himself. He was also interested in fuinjutsu to some extent, but there were more pressing matters to attend to at the moment.

"Something's coming!" said Kabuto.

Itachi activated his two tomoe sharingan and looked around. "To the right!"

Naruto and Itachi unsealed their swords and blocked a barrage of shuriken and kunai flying towards them. Kabuto drew out some water from the pouch on his hip and used the liquid as a whip to knock the projectiles away from him.

' _That was close... Kabuto's not putting enough chakra into the seal.'_ thought Naruto, growing more and more frustrated at his lack of sensory potential at the moment. He had to figure out what the hell the interference was coming from later.

Another barrage of weapons flew towards them followed by a visible gust of wind making the weapons fly faster. They blocked most of the projectiles once more, but Naruto, thanks to his lack of sharingan, was hit in the thigh by a kunai and instantly felt drowsy.

Itachi had seen the trajectory of the kunai and clearly saw that Naruto was the target. Another attack followed, this time it was senbon flying at them, sped up by another gust of wind. Naruto's slowed reaction time was devastating as he was pierced with half a dozen senbon. Naruto felt his eyelids get heavy. He pulled out one of the senbon and studied it. "Poison." he muttered tiredly.

One more hail of senbon followed by another gust of wind came their way before Itachi fired a large fireball straight at the oncoming attack. The fireball increased in size and intensity as it met the gust of wind and engulfed the forest in flames.

Naruto fell to his knees, struggling to stay conscious as he felt the poison make its way through his body.

"It's impressive that he's still awake, let alone breathing," growled a gravely voice, "that poison is potent enough to kill most others in a matter of minutes with a single senbon. And he's taken 6 plus a kunai." the voice seemed to resonate from all around.

"Kabuto," Itachi started."

"I got it," said Kabuto as he ran through a string of hand seals.

" _Kai!_ " a trio of voices said, releasing the genjutsu immediately.

"Don't think you can get us in a genjutsu so easily, runt!" the gravelly voice said, "we've done our homework on you three. Yakushi Kabuto, specialty genjutsu and medical ninjutsu, affinity is suiton. Uchiha Itachi: specialty is ninjutsu, with some prowess in genjutsu, incomplete sharingan, adept in kenjutsu, beware in close to mid range combat, affinity katon. Namikaze Naruto: specialty is ninjutsu and fuinjutsu, very capable of improvisation and misdirection, and is a powerful sensor, affinities are suiton, doton, and futon, eliminate first as he is the primary combatant. Team 5: known for impeccable teamwork making them capable of taking down high level shinobi when working together; take out Uchiha of Namikaze early to disrupt combination attacks." He said as if he were reading off a stat card. "We took out Namikaze, so you two shouldn't be too much of a problem now."

All members of team 5 grit their teeth at the disadvantageous situation.

"You two take care of them, I'll be fine. I'm feeling a little better already." said Naruto, regaining some strength in his voice. He pulled out two kunai with a familiar tag tied to the ends.

Itachi nodded. "Kabuto, follow my lead." The two rushed around the burning trees to engage the enemy.

As expected a pair of Suna shinobi came around the other side to take out a seemingly defenseless Naruto. "You've got to be pretty tough to survive that poison, but don't think you can survive a slit throat!" a brunette kunoichi yelled with a kunai poised to slash the blonde from ear to ear.

Naruto swiftly launched a kunai at her chest when she was at point blank range and made a single hand seal which released ninja wire to ensnare the teenage girl in a cocoon of metal thread.

"Idiot," Naruto muttered, slowly returning to his feet. He took a defensive stance after returning the second kunai to his supply pouch. With Odenta in his right hand and its sheath in his left, Naruto crouched down ready to react. "I'll be honest, I half expected to get to use both kunai, but it seems like you were smart enough to keep your distance."

"How the fuck are you standing?" asked the older shinobi, taking his own ready stance, kunai in hand, "that poison should have killed you. Naruto merely shrugged, "whatever, I'm not going down as easily as she did." The green haired teenager rushed at a still weakened Naruto.

"I'd hope not," taunted the blonde 8 year old, parrying a stab at his chest with his sheath.

While excessive movement is not recommended when one is poisoned, the more Naruto moved the clearer his mind became, and he slowly regained his speed and strength. Though Naruto had never been poisoned before this did seem strange to him. ' _They said it was a really strong poison... how am I recovering from it so quickly?'_ yet another question he'd have to ask Hiruzen when he got the chance.

The Suna teenager brought the kunai down for another slash. Naruto parried the slash with a hard smack to the hand with his sheath which was returned with a cry of pain from the green haired teenager. He lost his grip on his kunai and leapt backwards trying not to cradle his now broken hand.

"Fuck!" the older genin cursed as his hand began to swell. He reached into his weapons pouch with his good hand and drew out another kunai.

"I don't want to kill you, so unless you want to spend the rest of your shinobi career as a one handed genin you should surrender now." said Naruto coldly.

"Fuck you!" he yelled as he charged Naruto once more.

True his word Naruto sidestepped the sloppy lunge and brought Odenta down high on the Suna genin's forearm. Odenta sliced cleanly through flesh and bone leaving a stump spurting blood where a hand used to be.

"I'd tourniquet that if I were you," said Naruto cooly, as he sheathed his katana and walked away from his now maimed attacker.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Itachi and Kabuto)**_

Fighting a puppetmaster was a new and difficult experience for both members of team 5. It was common knowledge, at least among team 5 members, that the most effective way to defeat a puppetmaster was to cut the chakra strings controlling the puppet, which was easier said than done in this case. Even the puppet was a long range attacker, making it nearly impossible for Itachi or Kabuto to hit it, let alone its master. In fact the only time they had hit it was with a katon jutsu from Itachi, which only showed them that the puppet was fire proof.

"Kabuto, try to flank him and use the biggest suiton jutsu you know in my direction." Itachi said. Kabuto immediately complied, knowing what Itachi had planned.

Itachi attempted to flank the other side, diverting the attention of the puppet master, who continued to retreat in circles, as to not get too far separated from his teammates. The puppet moved to cut off Itachi physically, while shooting poison senbons in Kabuto's direction. The thick trees provided excellent cover, but the large gaps between each tree gave many clear shots straight through them.

"Suiton: suidan no jutsu," said Kabuto launching a large water bullet in Itachi's direction as soon as he got in position.

"" _Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"_ said Itachi as he blew a powerful fireball directly at the water bullet.

The two jutsu collided with each other and resulted in a thick fog that spread around the area.

Kabuto sped to cut off the enemies retreat out of the fog, using the new lack of vision to his advantage. He had already determined where he would cut off the Suna genin before the fog enveloped the area. Kabuto placed a chakra covered hand in the middle of the puppet masters back, severing a multitude of tendons, causing the enemy to collapse in pain.

"Aww quit whining, you all brought this on yourselves." said Naruto as he made his way through the edge of the fog. "What're we going to do with them? We can't just leave them out for the wolves." Said Naruto, he wasn't sure if there were any wolves in the forest, but there sure as hell were giant spiders.

"We'll take care of them," said a masked ANBU who jumped down from the canopy.

"WHAT THE HELL?" shouted Naruto. "How long have you guys been up there?"

"They only just got here a few minutes ago," said Itachi, walking through the clearing fog. "It probably wasn't too hard to locate us. They're probably just out here to make sure severely injured teams aren't left for dead out here."

The masked ANBU nodded, as he picked up the now unconscious genin from the ground and vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Now that that's over with," Itachi checked his sensor seal to make sure there were no vultures waiting to attack after the battle was over, "let's get going. How are you feeling Naruto?"

"Better. I don't know how, but the poison seems to have left my system."

"Must be the mokuton..." whispered Kabuto, "the Shodaime Hokage had unrivaled healing ability, and was impervious to poison altogether."

"Damn... that poison really did a number on me for a minute," muttered Naruto.

"Don't sweat it. You just unlocked your mokuton a couple of months ago, not a whole lot is known about the Shodaime ability before he was an adult." assured Itachi.

Naruto shrugged and began heading south once more as if nothing had happened.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(several hours later, in Kumo)**_

Word had spread fast that team 5 had come out on top against the Suna team favored to make it into the final rounds of the third exam.

Tsunade, who had a hefty sum bet in favor of the underdog Konoha team had used her future winnings to buy a round for the entire bar, in the form of credit of course. Obito sweat dropped, the packed bar was host to the jounin commanders of every team in the exam at the moment, and you didn't make it to jounin without developing quite the taste for alcohol.

"Serves dem right fer messing wid my team!" said the busty blonde drunkenly.

"Well, technically they're m-hic-my team, Ts-Tsunade-sama," Obito slurred.

"Whad wus dat Oobido?" Tsunade said, glaring daggers at the one eyed Uchiha.

"N-nothing..." Obito muttered, "I an too drunk fer dis shit."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with team 5)**_

They had gotten used to the uneven ground and were able to make their way through the forest at just under their regular speed. Since the morning's excitement they had not come across anything worth mentioning, and had made it quite far.

"At this rate we'll make it there the afternoon after tomorrow." said Itachi, marking their current location on the map. "How's your sensory jutsu doing?" Itachi asked Naruto.

"The interference is slightly stronger, but I'm getting used to it and I can sense past it for about 50 yards," still pretty shitty by Naruto standards, but more than enough for any other team. "I'm still really curious as to what it is though. I've sensed it before in the training grove, but it's never been so overwhelming before... and why can I sense it so clearly but the sensor seals don't pick up on it..." Naruto wondered out loud.

"It might have something else to do with your mokuton," said Kabuto, "it's a pretty complicated kekkei genkai, even by kekkei genkai standards, it wouldn't be surprising if it had a lot of other abilities to go with it. Your sensory jutsu included."

"I guess... it just sucks that there's nobody to teach me anything about it. Even Obito-sensei says mine is already stronger than his, so there's nothing that even the only other mokuton user in the world can teach me about it!" Naruto said pulling on his spiky yellow hair.

Itachi contemplated his best friend's dilemma, he had an entire clan of experienced teachers to help him master his sharingan, he couldn't imagine being the last Uchiha and only have someone like Kakashi train him to use it.

Back in Konoha a three year old Sasuke startled himself awake from his afternoon nap with a loud sneeze.

Team 5 continued on in silence until about an hour before sunset.

"We can stop for the night here," said Itachi. He was adjusting nicely into his role as team leader, and neither Naruto or Kabuto minded in the slightest. Although Itachi had taken the mantle of leader they were still a team, and everyone's input was valued; besides, Itachi did want to become Hokage, and Naruto and Kabuto were more than willing to take a back seat for their friend to develope his leadership skills.

They set up camp in a small clearing and activated the same security measures as the night before. Naruto produced more rice balls from the storage seal on his wrist, as well as several sticks of dango as a pleasant surprise for his teammates.

"Yes! I fucking love dango!" exclaimed Kabuto with an excited smile, "I don't care what they say, you're a genius Naruto!"

"What do people say?" Asked Naruto.

"Kabuto, that is easily the most emotion I've ever seen you show about... anything." Said Itachi with a mixture of surprise and amusement.

"What do people say about me?" Naruto asked a bit louder

Kabuto's stomach growled, "well I do love my dango," he said again with a smile.

"What do people say about me, dammit?"

"It's a figure of speech Naruto," said Itachi rolling his eyes.

"Whatever, I'll just ask Ayame when we get back to Konoha," the blonde boy muttered.

"What do you think your girlfriend will think when you come back with a chunin vest?" Itachi jested.

"I haven't really thought about it..." the teasing jab went over the blonde's for a moment, "Wait! Ayame isn't my girlfriend!" He said with a deep blush.

"Yeah? Tell her that," teased Kabuto with a smirk. "Airhead," he added, alluding to what people said about the blue eyed sensor.

"Shut up! Besides, even if she was my girlfriend, at least I can get a girlfriend," Naruto said, "Itachi's a slut, and I'm not even sure if you like girls."

"How am I a slut?" asked Itachi on the verge of breaking out into laughter.

"Yeah right, ever since Kanto I've seen you chatting up the less annoying fan girls."

"I like girls," said Kabuto before finishing off his dango, "I'm just too young to really do anything about it."

"Gross..." said Naruto and Itachi together.

"Whatever, that's the same reason you two haven't done anything about your girls'."

"We're eight." they reminded their older teammate. It was easy to forget that the trio of genin hadn't so much as grown a single armpit hair yet.

"Yeah, and I just turned ten." Kabuto reminded them.

They all merely shrugged and ate their food.

Naruto took the first watch, where he decided to make the most of the time and meditate, using his limited sensory ability to observe his surroundings. Even though he was still getting significant interference he could still sense further than he could see. He focused on the strong energy that permeated the forest and assaulted his sixth sense. Whatever it was, it was powerful. He focused harder on the energy and found that it flowed seamlessly through the trees. ' _That's strange...'_ he knew enough about science to know that energy didn't pass through objects without meeting any resistance. He focused on the energy around his body and found that it flowed through his body effortlessly as well.

He focused on the strange energy flowing through his body. ' _...'_ Naruto focused on that energy harder to try to figure out how it worked. He felt the energy pass through his body slower and slower until it started to collect within him. ' _Now we're getting somewhere...'_ The energy slowly began to build within him until he felt a drastic spike in his power. The power suddenly began to build drastically faster until he feld his body start to morph and his muscles start to grow painfully stiff. "What the fuck?!" he grunted loudly in pain.

Itachi's eyes shot open at the disturbance and saw Naruto's body contorting oddly. Itachi quickly activated his sharingan and saw a huge unfamiliar chakra mixed with his teammates natural reserves. Itachi instinctively darted forward and struck Naruto in the center of the back releasing a jolt of his own chakra to disrupt his friends chakra flow. The chakra was so powerful he could see the blonde's chakra points and utilized a bastardized version of the Hyuga gentle fist until the foreign chakra was disturbed enough to stop from growing any larger.

Naruto was stuck in his meditative position, face oddly swollen, and his arm had grown and contorted into a strange branch like shape. He felt as if his muscles were solidified.

After Itachi and Kabuto searched the area and determined that they had not been attacked. All three members of team 5 were dumbfounded, and Naruto was still stuck in the same spot, unable to explain what had happened.

Itachi and Kabuto both examined their deformed teammate for the next 5 minutes before the effects of the energy on Naruto's body began to subside.

"What the fuck was that?" Itachi asked a now normal looking Naruto.

"I was focusing on that strange energy I've been feeling, this time the energy in and around my body before I started to collect it," Naruto tried to explain, "then I started to collect more until I felt a huge spike in my chakra, then I lost control of it."

This left the two other genius's dumbfounded once more. "What do you mean?" asked Kabuto.

"I guess... I drew in that weird energy and it mixed with my chakra before it started to fuck me up." Naruto said, trying to dumb it down. "That's some seriously powerful stuff... Powerful and dangerous."

"Damn straight it's dangerous..." muttered Itachi. "Don't do that again. At least not until we figure out what it is..." Itachi was incredibly impressed with the amount of chakra he had seen. It was incredible, for a moment his best friend had Kage level reserves. Maybe more.

"Well it's about that time anyways," said Kabuto rubbing his eyes, "I'll take over the next shift, you two get some rest." Kabuto couldn't help but feel an almost unhealthy curiosity towards what he had just witnessed; a curiosity which he buried instantly, but would continue to pester him over time.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(the next morning, in Kumo)**_

Obito groaned loudly as he peeled his head off the hardwood floor of his hotel room. He slowly sat up rubbing the sleep away from his eye. "God... my head..." he groaned as he stood up and stumbled to the bathroom.

He leaned over the sink and guzzled water from the faucet to satisfy his parched throat. He stood over the toilet and took a satisfying minute long piss. "It's crazy that I didn't piss myself... I guess I'll just take the win on that one."

He turned the shower on to as cold as possible and stood under the frigid water for a good 5 minutes before he began to wash himself. "Hmm... I don't remember my shampoo smelling this good..." he said to himself, "I guess this is a pretty nice hotel though..." he stepped out of the shower feeling like a new man.

He wrapped a towel around his waist and walked out of the bathroom. Looking around the room he saw some things that piqued his suspicions. First of all, none of his luggage was anywhere in sight. Second of all the room was backwards, the bed should have been on the left wall but the bed in this room was along the right wall. And third of all was a lump beneath the covers on the bed.

The lump began to stir until a beautiful blonde woman sat up. She rubbed the sleep from her own eyes causing the blankets to fall to her lap and reveal a large voluptuous set of naked breasts.

Tsunade looked towards the window and sighed tiredly. She stood up from the bed and turned to head towards the bathroom before freezing in place at the sight of a towel clad Obito. Obito stood frozen in place, completely white eyed, and a drop of blood running from his nose down his face. Tsunade stood several yards in front of him, completely naked revealing her curvaceous womanly body, with a look of confusion on her face.

Tsunade felt an uncharacteristic urge to mess with her one eyed traveling companion. "That was fun last night wasn't it," she said with a lecherous grin. Obito wasn't a pervert like Jiraiya, so Tsunade felt oddly comfortable messing with him in such a manner, the fact she was completely naked not stopping her more facetious side whatsoever.

"W-we... didn't... y-you know..." Said the 21 year old Uchiha, another drop of blood making its way from his other nostril.

Tsunade decided to go easy on him, he didn't deserve her full seductive wrath. "No," she said feigning disappointment. "Not last night," she said with a seductive grin, this was just too much fun. "But I was just about to start my morning stretches," she said, "do you want to help me?" she said with a wink before turning to the side and bending over.

Obito's towel fell to the ground revealing his throbbing manhood before he vanished in a vortex centered around his eye, leaving a pool of blood on Tsunade's hotel room floor.

"I hope he'll be all right..." She said quietly before she shrugged and headed to the bathroom for a shower. "It's been too long since I messed with someone like that." she said with a chuckle, "I wonder how long I can keep this going..."

XXX END CHAPTER 13 XXX

That's a wrap for this chapter.

Naruto began to discover some more of the same abilities as Hashirama Senju. I'm sure you've all realized a while ago that it was nature energy he could sense, and that the valley the second exam takes place in has a strong connection of nature energy. No, you don't need a toad contract or a snake contract to use senjutsu. Hashirama used senjutsu without a summoning contract, and even though it was never really explained very well, I'm pretty sure it had something to do with his Mokuton, just like his healing ability and his sensory ability. Naruto's going to struggle to master senjutsu so it'll be a while before I bring it up again. We can't have a kage level 8 year old running around, that'd ruin the story, I just wanted to introduce his potential power.

What do you think of Kabuto so far? I'm really interested in what you all think of him as a character. I don't know what I want to do with him yet, I have a few avenues I could go with him, I just don't know what direction I want to go.


	14. Chapter 14: What's the twist?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 14: what's the twist?

 _ **(with team 5, two days later)**_

It had been about three and a half days since the start of the second exam and to everyone's surprise the first team to make it to the red tower was the youngest team to enter the exam.

"Congratulations," said a chunin proctor at the entrance of the tower, "we didn't expect the first team to arrive until sometime tomorrow afternoon."

"Thank you," replied the relatively fresh looking team of children.

"Do you mind if I ask how you made it here so fast? That river is supposed to be a deathtrap."

"We avoided the river altogether," said Itachi with a satisfied smile at his intuition, "until this last mile we came through the forest the whole way, we only went to the water because it was a straight shot to the tower."

"You had the right idea," said the man, impressed that they had made it through _that_ forest. "Most teams avoided the forest at all costs until they discovered the river was basically a bloodbath waiting to happen."

"What's so dangerous about the river," Naruto asked.

The Kumo proctor smirked, "river monsters," he said simply, "that and most of the larger animals stay close to the water... except the spiders." They all shuddered at the mention of the giant hairy black arachnids. "Plus you'd run into a ton of enemy teams also taking that path."

Team 5 nodded simultaneously, suddenly glad they had chosen to take the spider infested forest. They had been able to mostly avoid the eight legged creatures with the help of the sensory seals still painted on their hands.

"So uh... what do we do now?" asked Naruto.

"You'll stay here until the end of the second exam in four days." the man replied. "You can choose whatever room you like to stay in up on the 5th, 6th, or 7th floor. Meals are on the second floor at 0800, 1300, and 1800. If you have any injuries the medical bay is on the 3rd floor. There's a recreational area on the 4th floor and you can train on the first floor or the roof. We just ask that you don't cause any trouble with the other teams... when they arrive." The spiel was clearly rehearsed, but it was pretty informative.

"Thank you," said team 5 with a bow before heading inside.

The interior of the tower was huge, easily 100 feet in diameter. The first floor was just one big open room with a high 40 foot ceiling and a balcony jutting out of the far wall 30 feet off the ground. The second floor had about a third of it walled off where the kitchen was, four serving lines, and circular tables spaced out evenly throughout the rest of the open room. The third floor wasn't visible from the staircase, and seeing as how it was essentially a miniature hospital Naruto had no desire to check it out.

The recreation room had several pool tables spaced out and large comfortable looking couches near the windows, and a stereo system by each couch. Naruto looked closer and found there were silencing tags cordoning off each seating area so the sound systems wouldn't drown each other out. The next three floors all looked identical. There was an open atrium in the center of the floor and all around the atrium were 20 doors leading to the individual rooms.

Naruto decided that he favored a view so team 5 chose a room on the 7th floor facing the south. The rooms were quite comfortable, there were three beds, a single twin bed and a bunk bed with comfortable feather mattresses. There was a couch and a lounge chair near the window, and three wardrobes along the east wall. The bathroom was clean and relatively spacious and came with complimentary toiletries.

"I find it hard to believe that this place is only used once every several years for the chunin exams," Itachi commented.

"Who cares! It's not like we need to know what they use this place for normally," said Naruto as he leapt onto the top bunk. "This place is awesome! I'm going to check out the roof!"

Itachi and Kabuto both followed their borderline spastic friend up to the roof.

"This. Is. Awesome." Naruto stated. There were dummies set up all over the place and there was a self repairing seal on each of them, along with the same seal, only larger, painted on the floor beneath them. "Fight me." Naruto said directed at Itachi.

The young Uchiha smirked and unsheathed Onimaru, "how about 'a friendly spar' instead." He suggested, knowing that a friendly spar between the two close friends and rivals almost guaranteed a hospital visit.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(an hour later, half a mile north of the red tower)**_

The team of young Kumo genin could see the battle taking place atop the red tower from a mile away. Fire was flying in all directions and a heavy fog had settled over the roof of the structure making the tower look like a mountain protruding through the clouds. Strong winds were dispersing the low lying clouds only for the clouds to reform after a flash of orange light.

As they came closer to the tower they began to hear resounding clangs of metal on metal and noticed that rocks were also hailing down from the roof. Whatever was going on up there had even managed to create a miniature rainstorm directly over the tower.

"Congratulations Yugito-chan, Samui-chan, Karui-chan." Greeted the grumpy looking chunin.

"What's going on up there?" asked Karui.

"The team that beat you here." he grumbled, he was cold and wet thanks to the rainfall caused by the genin on the roof. "They've been at it for an hour."

"An hour? Like that? They must be exhausted by now," Yugito said. As far as she knew no genin who wasn't a jinjuriki had that kind of chakra reserves.

"You would think so. But they've only been going at it harder since the start."

"What team is it?" Yugito asked.

"Those Konoha kids."

The three 11 year old kunoichi looked up in wonder. ' _The two younger ones were kind of cute,'_ though Yugito. _**I like the dark haired one kitten. You should make him your mate.**_ Said a feminine feline voice in her head. ' _Shut up Matatabi! I'm only 11!'_ _ **I'm just saying, you should think about it.**_ The fire cat purred.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(the next morning)**_

As expected the two friends ended up in the hospital with chakra exhaustion, some pretty bad cuts and bruises, and in Naruto's case extensive second degree burns.

"Okay, you know I would have won that one if..." Naruto trailed off becoming aware of current company.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Itachi said from his hospital bed. The fight had been pretty even until Naruto had nearly slashed his arm off and Itachi had unlocked his third tomoe. From there Itachi had pretty much wiped the floor with Naruto, however the blonde still got some good licks in. Itachi had to admit, mokuton would have been a game changer. "You're going to have to get _way_ stronger if you want to beat me now."

"Fuck you Itachi! I've already healed more than you have!" Naruto rebuted, "I bet I'm at 100% before you are!"

"Yeah, you and your fucking Uzumaki blood."

"I swear, if I didn't know you two were best friends I'd swear you hated each other when you get all competitive like this," said Kabuto from his chair in the corner of the hospital room. He had been helping them heal much faster with his water healing technique since their fight. "Don't you think you two went a little overboard? I mean the second exam isn't even over yet."

"Come on, Kabuto. How often do you get to have a fight like that on top of such a badass roof? You can't pass something like that up!" Rebutted Naruto.

Kabuto sighed, there was no arguing with those two when it came to this. "I'm going to go get some food, you want anything?"

"Ramen!" Naruto said immediately.

"... I'll see what I can do."

Kabuto got up and headed downstairs to the cafeteria. The tower was still empty. From what they'd been told another team had arrived, but team 5 had yet to see them. It didn't really bother Kabuto much, what did bother him was how close he had been getting with his teammates. He was trained to be a cold, unfeeling, deep cover spy. He wasn't supposed to have friends. He wasn't supposed to care for other people. But something about those two had gotten to him. Together he felt like they could do anything. As a team there was nothing that could stand in their way. All by himself though... that was lonely. He hadn't minded the isolation he'd felt his whole life up until this point, in truth he wouldn't mind it so much if he had to go through it again, but something deep down told him he didn't want to be alone again. Something in his heart told him to hold on to his friends. In some small sense he felt as if he needed them. It was maddening.

The white haired genin made his way to the cafeteria, it was completely empty but there was a small selection of food laid out for the two teams. Just as he suspected, there was no ramen. Kabuto served himself a plate of rice and curry with a single pork cutlet and made his way to a table near the window. He sat alone and ate in silence contemplating his current dilemma.

' _Why am I so conflicted about something so simple?'_ he wondered. ' _It should be simple, I should be able to just bury my feelings like I was trained to do... why do I have feelings in the first place? ROOT got rid of those for me.'_ Kabuto smirked to himself, ' _I guess I'm still human after all. Then why can't I just be happy to have friends?'_ the word friends still felt foreign and strange to him. Not the word in and of itself, but the concept. He knew what friends was supposed to mean, but he was just starting to grasp what it truly meant for one person to truly trust another. ' _That's it... Trust. They can't trust me... they can never trust me...'_ he thought sadly. ' _Even if they do, they're wrong to. I'm not like them. No matter what I feel, I'll never be human like the rest of them.'_

Kabuto finished his plate and deposited it in the dishes bin. He prepared a plate for Naruto and Itachi and headed back downstairs.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(first floor, three days later)**_

The first ten teams to finish the second exam were all standing around waiting to receive word regarding the third and final exam. The teams consisted of 6 teams of three and four teams of 2: two teams from Konoha, three teams from Kumo, two teams from Iwa, one team from Suna, one team from Taka, and one team from Ame. All teams to finish after the first 10 had been escorted back to Kumo first thing that morning.

Naruto and Itachi had both made full recoveries within a day in the hospital and were eager to continue to the next round. Both the 8 year old boy's were being stared down by a pair of girls a few years older than them.

Itachi was receiving the glare of a blonde Kumo kunoichi with dark slanted eyes and some cat like features. Yugito wore the standard black pants and shirt and a lavender flack with a cloud like pattern over her torso. From what they'd seen of her training she was quick, nimble and incredibly agile, but what concerned team 5 the most was her massive chakra reserves which dwarfed everyone else in the room. Naruto, even with his sixth sense dulled due to the energy surrounding them, could clearly sense the bijuu inside of her.

Naruto was on the receiving end of another glare from an Iwa Kunoichi. This one wore the standard red shinobi attire of an Iwa kunoichi, with the exception of the skirt she wore rather than the traditional pair of red pants. The girl was only a year or two older than Naruto at most and had a heart shaped head and large dark eyes. She had short black hair and, like most kunoichi, a thin build. Naruto could sense her too, her reserves, while still impressive, were not as extraordinary as Yugito's, but there was something intriguing about her chakra all the same.

"Why are they staring at us?" Naruto asked Itachi, referring to the two girls fixated on the two Konoha prodigies.

"It doesn't matter, they are our opponents in the next exam. Just focus on beating them." Itachi said with a shrug.

The door on the balcony opened and out walked a large dark skinned man with beady eyes and long wild white hair. Behind him was A, Darui, and the first exam proctor Mabui. Naruto grinned at his kenjutsu master, who remained stoic but returned Naruto's grin with a slight nod.

"Congratulations on passing the second exam," the voice of the Sandaime Raikage boomed, "before we move on, however, I would like to inform you all of the true purpose of these exams." The Raikage was not one for theatrics or beating around the bush, "essentially the chunin exams serve as a deterrent for war, allowing the villages to gauge the future military strength of other great nations. On top of that it serves as means for the villages to settle scores with each other through controlled fights between our strongest genin. As most of you know, the third and final exam is a tournament of one on one fights between sixteen of you," the genin looked around, there were 26 of them not 16. "I'm sure you all noticed that there are more than 16 of you in this room, but that is not a mistake. The second exam is not over." The genin all managed to maintain their bearing, "when I say, you will engage in a battle royal where the first 10 to be killed or rendered unable to continue will be eliminated from the final round." The genin all looked around to size up their competition as quickly as possible, unspoken alliances were made, nods were shared, and all teams turned to face the youngest team present. "FIGHT!"

Time slowed down as Naruto, Itachi, and Kabuto were all backed into a corner. The other 23 genin all shared a mutual understanding of the plan; they finished first, so despite their looks we will weed the strongest out first.

Team 5 shared a quick look before they all made the same cross handsign, "kage bushin no jutsu!" there was a large puff of smoke, "henge!" followed by another cloud. When the white smoke cleared it revealed 2 mirror sets of 23 genin facing each other.

"CHARGE!" yelled the transformed original Naruto, and all the disguised clones took off to engage the horde of enemy combatants.

"That's engenius..." said Mabui to a smirking Darui and A. "They just negated the entire enemy advantage and created a free for all. And they planned it all with a single look."

"Those three are known as the prodigies of Konoha for a reason, Mabui-chan." Said Darui, "like I said, I wouldn't want to fight a war with Konoha when those three grow up." He received an amused chuckle from A and a disgruntled grunt from the Raikage.

Nobody knew who to fight, all they could do was take on shinobi from other villages, but the team 5 clones took this into account as well. Many of the clones began engaging each other in taijutsu battles, forcing the original enemies to engage each other, and the original team 5 members, disguised as genin from three separate villages, fought each other. Diversion was the name of the game, Naruto and Itachi could tell who was the enemy and who was a clone, and when someone was distracted they would separate from their engagement and deal a knockout blow.

After a few minutes, and 6 contestants being eliminated, many of the smarter genin had figured out a way to rectify the situation. "Attack your you!" shouted the lone Iwa kunoichi, it was the best way she could think to put it. She had seen that the clones couldn't take much damage before dispelling and the distraction was only meant to force them to fight amongst themselves.

Everyone took heed of her instructions and within minutes, and two more eliminations, the remaining 15 enemy shinobi faced off once more against the transformed team 5. Their opponents had figured out who team 5 was transformed to look like so the three released their henge.

They were all glaring daggers at the three Konoha prodigies. Team 5 was the only team remaining with all of its original members, and by the looks of it their enemies were looking to rectify that.

No member of team 5 was going down without a fight. Kabuto readied his water whip while Naruto and Itachi drew their swords. Nobody on the larger side was eager to go first, nobody except Yugito and the Iwa kunoichi, who both charged at the recipients of their earlier glares.

Naruto parried the first kunai strike the red clad kunoichi sent at him, keeping his balance and was able to swat away the following kick to his left side using his sheath. The girl was agile and her blows were surprisingly heavy for somebody so small. Her fighting style was acrobatic and if Naruto wasn't so used to the Uchiha's evasive fighting style he would have had much more trouble keeping up with her movements than he was. The girl cartwheeled away from a would be body blow from Naruto's sheath and slashed at his calf with her kunai while she was upside down. Ignoring the pain, Naruto snatched the girls ankle, Odenta still in hand, and used chakra to maintain his grip. He spun his body around 360 degrees and hurled the skinny girl at the blonde fighting Itachi.

Itachi and Yugito seemed to be dancing around each other. Both were quick and agile, dodging each attack and countering in a fluid exchange. It was a wonder to watch, but endlessly frustrating for Yugito. None of their fast well aimed attacks could make contact with their target, and while Itachi could predict her movements Yugito was just too quick and nimble for Itachi to get there in time. Not even his ocular genjutsu had any effect. He wasn't particularly proficient with it yet but the blonde girl had made eye contact on several occasions and his attempts to ensnare her into a genjutsu had heeded no results. Itachi saw the body of the Iwa kunoichi fly in his direction and sidestepped the blow which slammed into Yugito, knocking both kunoichi to the ground.

Itachi himself had been entranced by the girl's movements. He could see what she was doing before she did it, but she still managed to weave her way around his strikes. He had watched her long blonde hair flow so elegantly with every movement, and he had seen the fierce fire in her eyes. It was intoxicating for him to watch. In all honesty he was a little pissed off with Naruto for interrupting their proverbial dance.

"Enough!" Boomed the Raikage's voice. Both Naruto and Itachi knew what had happened. That throw was not enough to take out their two opponents, but while they were fighting Kabuto had been keeping the other, larger, group at bay and had been able to take down two other enemies. Naruto and Itachi were both rather relieved that their fights had not ended like that; they were rather enjoying themselves and didn't want it to end there.

The two girls picked themselves off the ground and sent vicious snarls towards their respective opponents from moments ago. Naruto and Itachi couldn't help but find the expressive reaction to the interruption adorable.

The downed contestants were carted upstairs to be treated. "Congratulations on passing the second exam, now your third exam proctor will brief you on the final portion of the chunin exams." The Raikage turned around and left the room, leaving A to step forward and begin speaking.

"Hello, my name is A and I will be your third exam proctor," he began in his gruff voice, "The third exam is a four round tournament consisting of one on one battles. We will now randomly select the brackets." a panel to the left of the balcony slid down revealing a large television screen. The remaining contestants gathered around in some semblance of order. The remaining contestants were team 5, two other Konoha genin, one a violet haired kunoichi, the other a senbon sucking sickly looking shinobi. There were three Iwa genin, to include the kunoichi and the large genin who had tried to bully Naruto, and a huge boy with a bulbous nose. Yugito was accompanied by her teammate Samui and another dark skinned boy who was sucking on a lollipop to represent Kumo. There were two Suna genin, one with a large scroll on his back, Naruto assumed a puppet master, and the other didn't have any real distinct characteristics other than that she was the oldest genin there. And there were two Taki genin; a green haired girl with orange eyes, Naruto could sense she was also a jinjuriki, and a masked boy with strange looking eyes, green pupiless irises and red sclera, and a black bandana covering his head. And finally there was one Ame genin clad in black who wore what appeared to be a scuba mask.

A bracket appeared on the screen with empty boxes on the bottom which began flickering through names randomly. After a moment the names stopped flickering and revealed the tournament bracket. "First match will be: Yakushi Kabuto vs Amuto Ray of Taki," A's voice boomed. "Second: Hoki Shijima vs Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure." The Iwa kunoichi glanced over at the older Suna kunoichi. "Third: Samui of Kumogakure vs Namikaze Naruto. Fourth: Omoi of Kumogakure vs Fu of Takigakure. Fifth: Shirogane Gando vs Yugito Nii." Yugito looked over at the presumed puppetmaster. "Sixth: Akatsuchi of Iwagakure vs Kamizuru Kurobachi." The two large Iwa teenagers made brief eye contact. "Seventh: Uzuki Yugao vs Shigure of Ame. And eighth: Hayate Gekko vs Uchiha Itachi."

The genin all looked up at the bracket and studied it. They had all done a good job at concealing their abilities up to this point, so they only knew what to expect of the shinobi from their own villages. "In 6 weeks you will all return to Kumo to participate in the tournament. Normally you would only be given a month, however a special exception has been made in order to compensate for the additional travel time many of you will need in order to return to your homes and train for the upcoming stage of the exam."

XXX END CHAPTER 14 XXX

A little more Kabuto development, we get to see some of the extent that ROOT fucked him up, but why isn't he working for ROOT? He's feeling conflicted and this will continue for a while; for now he's holding on to what Danzo made him, but will that change in the future?

Not a whole lot more to say. You can see that team 5 works together seamlessly and each member is a prodigy in their own right, but how will they fare on their own in the third exam? Especially with the other powerful characters they'll be facing off against. I made the Kumo characters a little more age appropriate for this fic, Yugito and Samui are both supposed to be like 9 years older than Itachi in cannon.


	15. Chapter 15: Training for greatness

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 15: Training for Greatness!

 _ **(5 days later, in Konoha)**_

Word had spread rather quickly that pride of Konoha, team 5, had made it to the final round of the chunin exams. The three youngsters walked through the gates and were greeted with a hero's welcome. It seemed as if the entirety of Konoha had been waiting at the gates to welcome the prodigal sons home. The young girls were squealing fervently, while the boys their age looked on with some measure of jealousy. The adults all cheered them on and shop owners offered 'exclusive deals' on anything they wanted from their shops. The elderly citizens all quietly looked at the spectacle with prideful smiles on their faces; for them to be able to see the new generation that would undoubtedly shape the future of their village standing before them was akin to seeing the Shodaime himself build Konoha from the ground up. In fact the only ones who didn't seem to be overjoyed were the three team 5 members themselves. There was too much to do, too much they had to learn, and so much training they had to get to.

After making their way through the crowd Naruto beelined straight to the Sarutobi manner to speak to Hiruzen about what he had discovered while in the valley.

Hiruzen was surprised at first but quickly got over the initial shock of Naruto being able to draw in nature energy on his own. It wasn't exactly a secret that the Shodaime Hokage could use senjutsu without the use of a summoning contract like Jiraiya or Minato had to. "What you felt, Naruto, is what's known as nature energy." the retired Hokage explained to the blonde prodigy, "when one draws in this energy they become what is known as a sennin."

"Sennin? Like Tsunade-baa-chan and Jiraiya-san?"

"Tsunade and Jiraiya are both _Sannin_ , which is an elite rank given to them by Hanzo the Salamander of Ame. Sannin and sennin are two different things Naruto. But you brought up Jiraiya, who is a toad sennin." Hiruzen continued despite Naruto's confusion, "you see, usually for one to become a sage it is done with the help of a summoning creature that has the latent ability to control this nature energy that you feel. The toad's of Mount Myoboku are one of these creatures."

Naruto pondered this information for a moment before deciding to sit and listen to all that Hiruzen had to say before interjecting.

Hiruzen smiled at the blonde's display of patience, "being a sennin is not very common by any means Naruto, it is a very rare ability that very few know, and even fewer master. In fact there are only two living sennin that I can think of," said Hiruzen, "Jiraiya, and your father Minato." Naruto looked slightly put off at the idea that he was following in his father's footsteps in any way, "but neither of them have mastered the art, and both have only acquired the skill with the help of their summoning toads." He said, picking up on Naruto's look.

"So I'm the only one who can do it without those stupid toads?" asked Naruto, truth be told he wasn't a huge fan of toads to begin with. They weren't as bad as snakes though; Naruto hated snakes. Apes and slugs were the epitome of cool in Naruto's book.

"Yes, and as far as I know, the only one since the Shodaime Hokage to accomplish such a feat." Naruto appeared slightly disappointed at the information, yet another thing he was on his own with. "However, I believe that Jiraiya may be able to assist you anyways." Hiruzen offered.

' _Jiraiya-san... I guess that wouldn't be so bad, he's a perv and all but maybe I'd be able to get a look at one of those icha icha books I see the grown ups reading.'_ Naruto looked up at his Jiji and nodded.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Namikaze residence, with Hiruzen and Tsunade)**_

Hiruzen had given Naruto a hand full of scrolls filled with B-rank ninjutsu to practice before he left to find Jiraiya several hours ago and during his search he'd happened across Tsunade. Hiruzen was sure that Naruto had already mastered the jutsu in the scrolls and was now working out ways to utilize the techniques tactfully.

Hiruzen knocked on the green painted door hoping to finally find his student here, they'd already checked every other reputable establishment he may be at within Konoha, and Hiruzen was in no hurry to witness Tsunade finding Jiraiya in any of his other frequented spots. After several seconds Kushina answered the door with a sweet smile.

"Oh, Hiruzen-sama, Tsunade-sama, welcome. We weren't expecting you, but please come in." she said amicably.

"Hello Kushina, we were searching for Jiraiya and figured he may be here." Said Hiruzen as he stepped inside. Tsunade said nothing, as she was still pissed about how Naruto was treated by his family, and had nothing nice to say to either of his parents, so she simply followed the golden rule of not saying anything at all.

"Yes he is here, he and Minato are both in the living room eating lunch, please join us." She offered, oblivious to the Tsunade's cold indifference.

The three walked into the kitchen where the twins were both coloring on one side of the table and Jiraiya and Minato were finishing their food on the other side.

Minato looked up and smiled at their new guests, "and to what do we owe this visit?" he greeted as a good natured joke. Tsunade bit back a harsh scoff.

"We're here to ask Jiraiya for assistance in Naruto's training," said Hiruzen simply.

This got the room's attention, "no, I'm far too busy to help train Naruto." Jiraiya replied, "whatever he may need I'm sure you two or Obito can help him with."

Tsunade's eyes hardened. "I'm sure that you are the only one who can be of assistance in this case," Hiruzen assured his white haired student.

"And what exactly could be more important than training the twins?" Asked Jiraiya rhetorically. Both Kushina and Minato looked at the former Hokage curiously.

"How about paying attention to the only Namikaze you've never given a shit about?" said Tsunade harshly to everyone in the room save herself and Hiruzen (and of course the twins, who both loved their big brother to no end). "For the past 3 years he's never asked for or received any help in his training from any of you, and the one time he needs anything you simply blow him off as if he's nothing?"

"Tsunade-hime, I understand Naruto is talented, and will no doubt become a strong shinobi, but as I've said before, he's not as important as those two." Jiraiya said pointing at the twins who looked up confused.

"Jiraiya-sama, please don't say such a thing about Naruto," said Kushina quietly.

"Like either of you two care anyways! For over three years when was the last time you did so much as ask Naruto about his training?" Tsunade was one dismissive comment away from a full out destructive outburst.

"What do you mean? We talk to Naruto all the time." said Kushina with a puzzled look on her face.

"Yeah? What level fuinjutsu is he on? How many A-rank ninjutsu has he mastered? Do you even know his elemental affinities?" Tsunade nearly shouted, "hell, I'd be surprised if you knew anything more about him than the fact that he is a sensor!"

"Affinities? As in plural?" chimed in Minato.

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT AS IN PLURAL!" Tsunade shouted.

"If Naruto wanted to be trained by us I'm sure he would have asked and we would have been more than happy to help him." Said Minato, now sharing his wife's puzzled look.

"HE DID ASK! For over a year before he went to the academy he asked for help! And what did he get? A book on basic chakra control, and a book on level 1 fuinjutsu!" Tsunade shouted, her knuckles were white and her face was red with anger. "Other than that all he got from you two was 'ask Hiruzen,' or an 'I'm too busy right now'!" Tsunade's jugulars and temples bulged with each word.

"Why didn't he say anything then?" asked Kushina quietly as she thought back over the past several years.

"Naruto is not that kind of boy," said Hiruzen calmly. "What Tsunade's said is true, and Naruto does his best to act like it doesn't bother him. He has gone out of his way to make it look like he's fine, and has told everyone who sees it not to say anything to either of you. In fact he's made it his goal to surpass both of you without any of your help."

There was an uncomfortable silence as Kushina and Minato let those words sink in.

"If that's the case, why does he need us now?" asked Minato.

Tsunade's eyes hardened even further and she unconsciously leaked some killing intent. "He doesn't need _your_ help. He needs _his._ " she growled, pointing at Jiraiya.

"And what exactly could he need from me that he can't learn from anyone else?" asked Jiraiya with his arms crossed. He honestly hadn't cared enough to pay attention to Naruto's treatment over the years, so these revelations were news to him as well.

Hiruzen and Tsunade turned to leave, having said what was long overdue. "Naruto can sense nature energy and has tried, and failed, to control it on his own." said Hiruzen as he left the room.

The three remaining shinobi in the Namikaze kitchen were speechless.

"That's... impossible..." whispered Minato.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(5 weeks later, Gates of Konoha)**_

Naruto had only returned home once during his time back in the village, and that was only to sneak into his father's office and 'borrow' a scroll containing a jutsu he wanted to learn. He had successfully avoided all contact with his parents, with the help of Hiruzen and Tsunade. On one occasion where Minato tried to summon him using his authority as Hokage he had recruited the help of Obito and Kakashi who, together, had transported him to another dimension to train.

Truth be told , Naruto had not learned very many new techniques during his time back home, instead he focused on trying to perfect what he already knew in order to make his style more effective.

Flashback

"You have a wide variety of ninjutsu at your disposal, but you have very few techniques that can be used to quickly finish your opponent." said Hiruzen.

"You rely mostly on taijutsu for those finishing moves, but your taijutsu relies mostly on diversion and countering for it to be effective," said Tsunade.

"The same goes for your fuinjutsu. Most of your seals are used as traps or for concealment, but only one or two are really effective in a one on one fight." Hiruzen explained.

"You have no genjutsu, but you can easily dispel which is good. But you have to learn to use your sensory jutsu more effectively for one on one combat." Tsunade pointed out.

"Your kenjutsu is good, but you're going up against more experienced swordsmen from Kumo, so you can't rely on your special style as much as you can against a non sword user." Hiruzen informed him.

"So this is what we're going to do..."

End flashback

Naruto had not realized how much he relied on a team for him to be successful in combat, and the rather blunt criticism of his skills was a real eye opener for him. He had spent the past month working on his pitfalls and had made enormous strides in his abilities. He was stronger than he'd ever been and had developed his sensory jutsu to an unforeseen level of proficiency. If he was ever ready for the exam it was now.

Naruto looked around at the other members of the convoy to Kumo. He had expected to be heading back with only those who were participating but found that there were hundreds of spectators heading off with them. It wasn't uncommon for spectators to travel to watch the exams in person, but on this occasion everyone who could afford to wanted to witness the pride of Konoha in person.

Unfortunately for the academy students, class would continue while the contestants were participating in the exam. Ayame had walked with Naruto to the gate to bid him farewell. "Kick their ass Naruto-kun!" Naruto's blue eyes met her chocolate brown ones and a swelling feeling in his heart caused his breath to hitch. Ayame noticed his pupils dilate and she smiled at her crush. The academy taught aspiring kunoichi the signs of desire because seduction was a huge part of any female shinobi's arsenal, and that particular sign didn't get past her.

Ayame leaned in and planted a kiss on the blonde boy's cheek which reddened like a tomato immediately after. "I mean it," she whispered in his ear, giving Naruto goosebumps on the back of his neck, "don't lose," she said giving Naruto another kiss on the cheek.

"Naruto! Say goodbye to your girlfriend and let's go!" said Obito, who received a whack on the back of the head from his own girlfriend, Rin, followed by his own kiss.

"Bye Ayame-chan! Make sure you watch me wipe the floor with the competition!" Naruto said with his hands behind his neck and his blush still present.

Obito had a similar look as he and his student started the journey towards Kumo, "Girls huh?" He said to Naruto as they both shared the same dumb lovestruck grin.

"Not just any girl, Obito-sensei," Naruto replied.

"Ain't that the truth," Obito said, stealing one last look at the girl he'd loved for as long as he could remember.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Kumo, 4 days later)**_

The Konoha group had arrived in pretty good time, giving everyone just over a day to get settled in and enjoy the festivities before the beginning of the third exam.

The festival was in full swing, there were stands with games, food, and all sorts of foreign goods for as far as the eye could see, which wasn't very far considering the masses of people crowding the streets.

Team 5 wasn't looking around with the same level of wonder they had felt nearly two months ago. They were focused. The only thing that mattered to them was tomorrow, the day that they would finally be able to show the world what they were capable of. None of them had trained together over the past month, and none of them were willing to divulge any of what they had learned. "You'll just have to wait and see," was all any of them would say on the subject. Even though they'd be cheering each other on during the bouts they would still be competing against each other in later rounds.

Team 5 made their way to the hotel the contestants would be staying at, and found that they would all have their own individual rooms. It was still early, but they all decided that getting a full day of rest after their journey from Konoha would be for the best before the exam the next day.

Naruto decided to head out to the hot spring run by the hotel. He made his way downstairs, only passing a handful of employees; all the other guests at the hotel, except for the competitors, were out enjoying the festival. Naruto disrobed in the changing room and made his way outside into the chill winter air. As he stepped into the hot water he felt instant relief from the cold weather, the mountains caused winter to start much earlier than it did in Hi no Kuni, where it was still autumn.

Naruto closed his eyes and let the hot water soothe his muscles and coax him into a light sleep. ' _Man, I wish Ayame was here.'_ he thought. It wasn't a perverted thought, he was simply enjoying the hot springs and found her company enjoyable.

The door opened and a fat teenager with a bulbous nose made his way into the water. Naruto sensed him coming but didn't react. The large older boy didn't give off any ill intentions, so Naruto simply continued to relax.

"Okay, Akatsuchi, I'm relaxing. You happy now?" asked a young feminine voice from the opposite side of the division between the male and female sides of the springs.

"Very!" the boy known as Akatsuchi replied as he sunk deeper into the natural hot spring. "You've been too worked up lately, you need to unwind Kurotsuchi-chan."

"Whatever," the girl known as Kurotsuchi said. "I just want it to be tomorrow already so I can kick that blonde twerps ass!"

"It's funny you would mention that blonde badass," said Naruto, he recognized the name of the girl who he had fought at the end of the second exam.

The other side was silent for several moments before Akatsuchi called over once more, "Kurotsuchi-chan? You still there?" No reply, "great." the large Iwa teenager moaned. It wasn't like his teammate to be so moody, and despite his jovial demeanor Akatsuchi was getting tired of it.

"She's still there," Naruto replied with his eyes closed, "she's just ignoring me."

"Are you spying on me you tree hugging perv?!" The Iwa kunoichi shouted.

"No, I can sense you though. Sorry, I can't turn it off." said Naruto. Naruto could hear her grumble something inaudible, "she's in a bad mood," Naruto said to Akatsuchi.

"She's never lost a fight, and to lose against a Konoha shinobi is like the ultimate insult to her honor." Said Akatsuchi. Naruto had forgotten about the ill will between their two villages, especially against his family. Truth be told, Naruto had never paid much attention to the history lessons regarding his father while at the academy.

"I DIDN'T LOSE! THEY STOPPED THE MATCH BEFORE I COULD FINISH HIM!" She shouted, obviously ignoring Naruto's presence.

Despite Naruto's instinct to tease her further he decided to drop it and soak in silence; he could feel she was already pissed, and good natured teasing was no fun after a certain line had been crossed, and it seemed that Naruto's mere presence was enough to hurl her over that line.

Akatsuchi gave Naruto a grateful look as he too eased himself deeper into the comfortable heat of the hot spring. After some time Naruto could sense Kurotsuchi relax as well.

After 20 minutes Naruto felt himself pruning and got out of the water. "It was nice to meet you two, but I'm going to go get something to eat." Naruto said, "Kurotsuchi-san..." silence, "I hope we get to finish our fight." he said before he walked inside to the changing room to put his robe on and head back upstairs.

"He doesn't seem like a bad guy," said Akatsuchi after Naruto had left.

"That's what pisses me off most about him." Said Kurotsuchi. In all honesty she couldn't help but kind of like the twerp, he was nice and had kind eyes, she even thought he was kind of cute, and he was undoubtedly a very strong shinobi, but he was supposed to be her enemy. She was supposed to hate him and everyone else from Konoha, but especially him.

XXX END CHAPTER 15 XXX

I had to end it early, next chapter will be the beginning of the final round of the chunin exams. I just started writing this chapter and kept going, so this chapter and the next one are both done.

This chapter we actually did have quite a bit of development with some of our minor characters: Kushina and Minato get told off by Tsunade and they realize that they're some piece of shit parents. I just want to be clear, Naruto isn't being a huge bitch like Boruto. In Boruto, Naruto is busy as fuck but does try to make time for his family, here, Minato and Kushina have all but forgotten that Naruto exists and have made no effort to do anything with him for 3 years.

Also we get a bit of development with Naruto and Ayame's relationship. But Kurotsuchi thinks Naruto is cute? And I've already said it's not a harem? Relax, Naruto is 8. He's got his entire life ahead of him.

Chunin exams are taking longer than I expected, sorry about that, but trust me, I want team 5 to grow up too so we can move on with the plot.

Let me know if you have any constructive criticism.


	16. Chapter 16: Any given Chunin Exam

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 16: Any given chunin exam

 _ **(The next day, exam arena)**_

It was a bright sunny morning, and since they were already above the clouds, the blue sky was completely clear. It was still rather cold, so the vendors selling fleces, sweaters, jackets and blankets were making a killing. The heaters around the outdoor stadium were doing a decent job at keeping the arena at a semi comfortable temperature, but even so most of the foreign spectators were bundled up.

"Welcome to the third and final exam of the chunin exams!" said A, his voice was projected around the stadium with the help of a vocal enhancement jutsu.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in the Kage stand)**_

"This year promises to be a good one," said A, the Sandaime Hokage. "I had the pleasure of watching your boy at the end of the second round, Minato."

"I'm sure he did not disappoint." Replied Naruto's father.

"No, he did not. Quite the opposite in fact; his team was facing off against 23 other genin and managed to pull out a win very easily." the Raikage praised, "although they used more tricks and diversions than I would have in such a scenario, it was still very impressive."

"That doesn't matter. Those three down there are some of the strongest genin to come out of Iwa in generations!" Interjected the frail elderly Tsuchikage, Onoki, saving Minato from an uncomfortable exchange of words. "I would be shocked if the final fight wasn't between Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi." Onoki bragged.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you Onoki." Said the Raikage, "Yugito Nii is exceptionally powerful in her own right."

"Yes... your Jinjuriki, I guess you got tired of trying to steal another bijuu from Konoha and decided to make yours stronger." Onoki jabbed.

"That's all in the past Tsuchikage-sama," said Minato with a small level of killing intent. "We are allies now. Actually, it seems like you're the only one here who is not one of our allies." Minato threatened.

"Damn upstart greenhorn Kage, thinking they can talk to me that way." Grumbled the decrepit old Tsuchikage.

"Now, time for the first match!" A's voice projected throughout the stadium, "Yakushi Kabuto from Konoha vs Amuro Ray of Takigakure!" Cheers rang throughout the stadium for the announcement for the event they'd all been waiting for, the start of the chunin exam tournament.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in Konoha)**_

The villagers who had opted not to venture to Kumo for the exams were all gathered inside the Konoha arena, where the gargantuan screen was showing a live feed of the tournament, with a smaller screen keeping track of the tournament bracket.

A very pregnant Kushina took a seat in the stands with the twins, Rin, her old friend Mikoto and her son Sasuke. Mikoto had been forced to stay home with Sasuke, but she had spoken to Itachi about it and he had assured her that it was ok.

"When is it Itachi-onii-san's turn?" asked Sasuke.

"Your brother has to wait until the end of this round before it's his turn Sasuke." Mikoto said to her youngest son who crossed his arms and pouted.

"It doesn't matter, Naruto-onii-san is going to kick his butt!" proclaimed Mito, Ashina nodding in affirmation behind her.

"Yeah! Naruto-onii-san is the strongest ever!" Ashina stated.

"Yeah? And how would you know that? You've never even seen your brother train." said Rin, smiling at how accurate their unwarranted faith in their older brother was.

' _They hardly ever see their brother at all...'_ Thought Kushina. Ever since Tsunade had laid it all on the table she felt no shortage of shame at how she and Minato had treated their oldest son. ' _And it's all my fault. This is the first time I'll ever see him fight... Everyone says his team is the pride of Konoha, but no matter how strong he is... he did it without me.'_ Tears began to well up in the redheaded woman's eyes. ' _And now Naruto doesn't want anything to do with his family.'_ Tears started to roll down Kushina's pretty face.

"Kaa-chan? What's wrong?" asked Ashina, only causing the tears to roll heavier.

Neither Rin nor Mikoto, who were both aware of why she was crying, had any sympathy for her.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in the Arena)**_

Kabuto and the strange looking Taki teenager faced off against one another. Kabuto couldn't figure out what the reason behind his strange appearance was. His body was completely covered, except for his eyes, which were bloodshot with green pupil less irises.

"Begin!" A shouted.

Kabuto instantly started going through hand seals and attempted to send his enemy into a genjutsu. As far as Kabuto knew his genjutsu had worked, his enemy, Ray, remained motionless.

Kabuto decided to proceed with caution and formed a whip with some water he drew out of the pouch on his hip. Kabuto lashed out with the water whip intent on the blow striking his enemy across the face. Ray simply leaned back, avoiding the whip. "So it didn't work." Kabuto muttered.

Kabuto went through some more hand seals for another, stronger genjutsu, "Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu! (Demonic illusion: Hell Viewing Technique)"

"Don't make me laugh," Ray said in a deep voice, "that genjutsu won't work on me. My worst nightmare has already been realized. And I am its product." Ray's arm shot out of his sleeve, directed for the hand to grab hold of Kabuto's neck. "This is the strongest kinjutsu from Taki." Kabuto leapt out of the way as some of the black threads connecting his detached arm to his body shot out at Kabuto. "I never wanted it, but it'd been so long since Taki had anyone capable of using this technique and the elders didn't care about the desires of one boy." Kabuto coated his hand in blue chakra and swatted away the black threads. "Receiving the joingu was painful," more black tendrils shot out at Kabuto, "almost unbearable." Kabuto did his best to knock them away but was being cornered. "But it made me strong."

"Why tell me this?" Asked Kabuto.

"So you know that you can't possibly beat me." said Ray, "I am immortal!"

Kabuto held out his chakra covered hand sliced through the black threads shooting out at him. Kabuto ran forward towards the detached arm and used his hand to slice through all the threads connecting the arm to the body.

The dismembered arm fell to the ground and Kabuto turned and rushed at Ray. The cut threads circled around Kabuto while Ray detached his other arm in a similar fashion, completely encircling Kabuto in a mass of black tendrils. The threads shot at Kabuto poised to stab into him. Kabuto pulled more water from the pouch and deflected the threads away.

Controlling the water like this took an immense amount of focus from the glasses wearing genin and effectively halted his attack. Kabuto was forced to dodge the threads he couldn't block and was forced to make his retreat. He cut his way out with a chakra covered hand and ran to the far end of the arena where he stopped to analyze the situation.

Meanwhile Ray reattached his dismembered arm by sending threads into it presumably tying knots with the threads to keep it attached. "Don't you see it's useless to attempt to defeat me?" He said, flexing his hand to assure it was functioning properly. "I don't feel pain, I can block anything you try and hit me with from a distance, and as you saw you can't get in close enough to try anything from close range."

Kabuto was calm, being trained by ROOT gave him that advantage at least. Kabuto went over what he knew so far. ' _He uses those threads as his method for attack and defense, but hasn't shown me any other ninjutsu, so either he doesn't have any or they're far too powerful to use this early in the fight. The threads extend from his body, so I can assume they originate from his torso out and not vice versa, so that leaves the question of how many threads he has... It can't be limitless, but I don't have the time or the chakra to try to outlast the threads.'_

Ray was enjoying watching the white haired medic try to come up with a plan.

' _He's prideful... that could be used to my advantage if I goad him into a trap...'_ Kabuto thought. "Okay. I'm ready to defeat you."

Ray's eyes grew narrow, "you defeat me? What do you think you just came up with? The joingu is invincible!"

"The joingu may be strong... but that doesn't mean you are."

All the Kage in the Kage box nodded at that analysis.

"Are you calling me weak? I'm the first person in 60 years to master the joingu! I'm the most powerful member of my village, I'M THE STRONGEST ONE HERE!" Ray shouted.

' _Bingo!'_ Kabuto hurled kunai with explosive tags at his enemy. To display his invulnerability Ray lowered his mast and spit out a mass of threads which caught the kunai and nearly suffocated the following explosion. The mass of threads detached and fell to the ground.

"See! Not even an explosion in my face can take me down!"

Kabuto dropped a ball of explosive tags on the ground behind him, which went unnoticed by Ray, and charged at the ragdoll monster with spears of water flanking him on either side. Ray adopted an aggressive fighting stance and started to fend off Kabuto's taijutsu attack with his own taijutsu, his own method of taunting Kabuto. For Ray it was like saying 'I don't need Joingu to beat you'.

Since Kabuto didn't have to fend off a massive barrage of threads he was able to attack with the water as well as his body. Kabuto manipulated the water into bullet sized projectiles that he used to try to tear through Ray's body. The water bullets ripped through the skin easily but his insides seemed to be entirely composed of the black threads which were much tougher than normal tissue.

Ray ignored the water, if they couldn't his anything vital then they weren't even a nuisance. The tears in his skin also allowed him to release his threads from more locations all over his body.

Kabuto flipped backwards and quickly went through a long string of hand seals, "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu! (Water release: Water Dragon Jutsu)" Kabuto spit out an immense amount of water which took the form of a massive water dragon. The chakra spent on this Jutsu was enormous and drastically drained Kabuto's reserves but if all went according to plan he'd be fine.

The dragon twisted around in the air, gaining momentum, before barreling towards Ray who, in his pride, attempted to face off with the massive water dragon head on. Releasing a massive amount of black tendrils, Ray formed a cone like barrier facing the giant dragon. The water jutsu crashed into Ray, sweeping him backwards and eventually crushing him against the ground, nearly causing him to drown.

With the jutsu released Ray slowly made his way to his feet with a murderous look on his face. Kabuto stood 20 yards away, exhausted from the chakra consumption of the jutsu.

Ray rushed at Kabuto, black tendrils spilling out of his mouth and all over his body where the skin was torn. Kabuto appeared to weak to dodge or counter and the tendrils from Ray's mouth tore through his body. "I am invincible," growled Ray.

Kabuto smiled before disappearing in a cloud of white smoke which revealed a large ball of burning paper bombs. Ray's eye's widened; even before with only two paper bombs he wasn't able to suppressed the explosion as effectively as he would have liked, and now there was a softball sized cluster of them.

The explosion was huge, covering up two thirds of the arena.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in the competitor's box)**_

"Holy shit! Is Kabuto okay?" Naruto asked to noone in particular.

"I can't tell," Said Itachi trying to look through the smoke with his sharingan. "Can't you sense him?"

"Oh yeah..." Naruto said dumbly before feeling around the battlefield. "He's alive, but he's pretty beat up," Naruto said worriedly.

"How bad is he?"

"He should be fine," Naruto reported confidently. "Where the hell'd he get all those paper bombs?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto... every time we go on any kind of mission you give us like 20 of those things and you're the only one who ever uses them. What do you think we do with all of them? Wipe our asses with it?" Itachi responded, at greater ease after finding out that his teammate would be okay. "We're all lucky Kabuto didn't use all the tags you've given him after all this time."

"Oh... Can I have them back?" Naruto asked Itachi. That explosion was pretty awesome and Naruto wanted to have his own explosions in his fight.

"Hell. No." Itachi said, realizing what Naruto was truly asking for. "You probably will blow all of us up."

"Fine... asshole." Naruto muttered.

Yugito, who had heard the exchange between the two best friends, did her best not to giggle at how cute it was.

Kurotsuchi had also heard what was said and did not stop herself from laughing at the blonde's expense.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(on the field)**_

The smoke had cleared to reveal only one body. The badly burned Kabuto had been thrown into the opposite wall of the arena and he laid unconscious as the team of medical nin rushed over to care for his wounds. Ray was nowhere to be found.

A walked into the center of the crater which would now serve as the arena for the remainder of the exam and looked to the team of medical nin who were carting Kabuto to the hospital, then up to Naruto who shook his head to affirm that Ray was gone.

"Neither contestant is able to continue, so I call this match a draw, and both fighters are eliminated." there was a mixture of applause and booing from the stands. Many were applauding the fight they'd just witnessed, others were booing because they felt that Kabuto deserved to continue, but most were silent. They'd all just witnessed the death of one of Taki's greatest assets. "Next will be Hoki Shijima of Suna vs Kurotsuchi of Iwa!"

The two kunoichi made their way down from the competitors box and stood several yards away, facing each other. Hoki Shijima was a tall skinny young woman, who looked to be 17 or 18, and wore a thick pair of circular rimmed glasses which distorted Kurotsuchi's view of her eyes. Without the glasses the young woman was very beautiful, with medium length, straight, black hair, and smooth pale skin. She wore a loose fitting brown long sleeve shirt, and a pair of loose fitting black pants. There was no indicator of her wearing any sort of supply or weapons pouch, nor did she have any weapons with her.

' _She probably has them sealed away somewhere.'_ thought Kurotsuchi, as she sized up her opponent.

"Ready? Fight!" Said A.

Kurotsuchi threw a kunai directly at Shijima's face, which the older kunoichi swatted away with a black rod she produced from her sleeve. Shijima flung the black rod back at Kurotsuchi who moved to snatch it out of the air. Kurotsuchi caught the rod but was thrown backwards by the unforeseen weight of the object.

' _I can't get hit with one of these,'_ she thought, ' _how the hell does she wield it so easily?'_ She watched as her opponent produced another black rod in each hand. ' _Oh shit.'_

Shijima charged at Kurotsuchi rods in hand and poised to strike. The older teenager was not as fast or as skilled as Naruto, so Kurotsuchi had no problem dodging the attacks. Kurotsuchi breathed an internal sigh of relief that she wouldn't have to use her kekkei genkai so early in the tournament.

Kurotsuchi ducked a blow aimed at her head but received a knee to the face as a result. She rolled away and wiped the blood from her nose. Ready to attack once again Kurotsuchi noticed Shijima's stance change, where she was once in an offensive stance she moved into a more defensive position, closing off most avenues of attack.

' _I'm still faster than she is. I just have to get past her defense and cripple her.'_ the Iwa kunoichi sped forward and feinted to the right, forcing the Suna genin to move to defend, before charging straight forward and landing a push kick to her enemies torso. The Suna woman stumbled back several steps and felt a pain in the front of her thighs. Looking down Shijima found a pair of kunai in each quadricep. She looked up just in time to find another pair of kunai sailing towards her chest. She blocked those but didn't notice the other girl had vanished.

A hand shot out of the ground and grabbed onto her ankle, dragging her into the ground, "Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu! (Earth style: Groundhog technique decapitation)". Kurotsuchi burrowed out of the ground and held a kunai to Shijima's exposed head and looked up at A for confirmation of her victory.

"Winner: Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure!" A's voice rang out throughout the stadium. A roar of applause rang out.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in the Kage Box)**_

"The basics are deadly when used correctly," Minato noted. Naruto was up next and, despite everything that had happened, Minato was excited to see his son fight for the first time.

"Indeed." Said the Kazekage, "the last two matches have ended with either a D or E-rank ninjutsu."

"I'm glad to see these upstarts are taking the basics seriously, you don't make it to become a Kage without mastering the basics first," Onoki pointed out. All the Kage nodded their heads in agreement, "I'd expect nothing less from an Iwa shinobi though," Onoki added.

"Up next: Samui of Kumogakure vs Namikaze Naruto of Konoha!" Cheers and applause roared throughout the stadium. It was time for one of Kumo's most promising kunoichi ever to take on the prodigal son of the Yondaime Hokage.

"That's your boy, Hokage-san," said the Raikage, "one of the youngest chunin exam participants ever."

"It really is incredible that he has come so far at such a young age," said the Kazekage. "He survived against Pakura all those months ago, I'd be surprised if any genin here was a match for him now." The Kazekage praised.

"Yes, and he and the Uchiha boy took out Yugi in a matter of seconds," the Raikage chimed in.

Onoki kept quiet on the subject. He didn't have a leg to stand on at the moment, he had heard how he had handled his granddaughter at the end of the second exam and knew if their fight continued any longer the Namikaze brat would have beaten Kurotsuchi. ' _Not this time though, Kurotsuchi has some new tricks up her sleeve this time around.'_

Minato let their words, and more importantly Onoki's lack of words, sink in. That was more praise than he had given his son in the past 3 years. Minato felt a pang of guilt in his heart at that realization.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in Konoha)**_

"It's Naruto-onii-chan's turn!" Cheered Mito.

"It's about time!" Ashina chimed in.

Kushina looked up at the screen and watched as her oldest son took his place on the world's biggest stage, and felt another wave of guilt hit her. She didn't let the tears flow this time, and she allowed herself to feel some semblance of pride for what her son had accomplished thus far.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Kumo arena)**_

"Good luck Samui-san," Naruto said with a determined smile.

"You as well Naruto-san," Samui returned with a look of indifference. She wasn't puzzled by the wish for good fortune like most would be. She could see that Naruto wasn't taunting her or anything like that, he simply wished for a good fight. She understood that sentiment, it was very rare for her to meet her equal within her rank and a challenging fight was always welcome among powerful fighters. After all, what was the point of picking fights with someone too weak to give you a challenge.

"Are you two ready?" Asked A, receiving a determined nod from each fighter, "Begin!"

XXX END CHAPTER 16 XXX

Hah a cliffhanger. Don't you hate it when that happens? I just didn't want to have this chapter go too much longer than the rest. I feel like I've hit a good average of around 3.5K words per chapter, and I'm a stickler for consistency.

Kabuto's fight. Decided to go all in with the Suiton user idea. He hasn't met Orochimaru (or maybe he has and just hasn't revealed it yet) so he doesn't use any snake jutsu, and I felt like doing something non genjutsu oriented. How did you guys like his opponent? The Joingu user didn't use any elemental jutsu because he had yet to start taking other people's hearts, just want to clarify that early on. I knocked Kabuto out early on because I feel like I've been overplaying the strength of team 5 and I want to tone them down a little in order to keep things interesting.

I know it seems like Kurotsuchi's fight went really easy for her, but Kurotsuchi is a prodigy of Iwa, just like Naruto and Itachi are prodigies of Konoha. She was fighting against a pretty run of the mill genin who had some neat tricks up her sleeve. It wasn't meant to be a tough fight.

In case you haven't noticed, Naruto has a pretty rough tournament ahead of him, go ahead and put that bracket together. And Samui nor Kurotsuchi are any walk in the park.


	17. Chapter 17: Fruits of their labor

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 17: Fruits of Their Labor

Samui drew her tanto and charged at Naruto immediately. She had observed him fight against Kurotsuchi and found that if she could force him to be defensive she could best him in a swordfight.

Naruto surprised her by not revealing Odenta to fight her in a head to head sword match. The Kumo shinobi were known for their prowess with a sword, and Naruto did not want to get drawn into that kind of battle with Samui. Naruto drew a kunai and blocked her vertical slash, countering with a punch to the ribs.

Samui winced at the blow, it didn't break any ribs but she would definitely have a gnarly bruise. Naruto sent a kick at her left knee which she checked with her shin before pushing off of him to regain some distance.

Naruto went through a series of hand seals "Fuuton: Kaze no Dangan! (Wind release: wind bullet)" Naruto inhaled deeply and shot out strong concentrated pockets of air at Samui.

Samui could not see the projectiles, but moved her arms up to protect herself anyways. The speeding pockets of air pelted her in the stomach and forearms knocking the wind out of her.

' _Damn, I have to stay close or he's going to pick me apart with that jutsu.'_ it wasn't a particularly powerful attack, but over time it would wear her down, and the fact she couldn't see it left her as a sitting duck. Samui charged forward once more sending a straight thrust at Naruto's stomach. Naruto side stepped the thrust only to be on the receiving end of a spinning heel kick to the jaw, knocking him to the ground.

Naruto rolled to his feet only to be face to face with Samui's tanto coming straight to his face. Naruto ducked and was able to narrowly dodge the knee coming towards the side of his head, followed by another slash aimed at his neck.

' _Damn, she's fast. And that slash was too close.'_ Naruto continued to dodge as Samui forced him back towards the wall. Samui connected with a push kick to Naruto's chest, slamming him into the wall. Samui sent a current of lightning chakra through her tanto and charged at a cornered Naruto.

Naruto slapped an explosive tag on the wall and rolled away. Naruto sped away making a hand seal to detonate the tag. To his confusion the tag did not detonate, Naruto looked back to see his tag had been disabled by Samui's lightning coated blade, and that said blonde girl was charging at him once more. ' _Shit, I have to use Odenta and hope I can come up with a way to beat her.'_ Samui was proving to be the smartest opponent Naruto had ever faced, except for Itachi of course. The difference between Samui and Itachi was that Naruto had no idea what to expect from the kunoichi.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in the kage box)**_

"It looks like Kumo's prodigy might be too much for your boy Minato," the Raikage joked.

Minato was on the edge of his seat and didn't notice he was holding his breath. Minato got to his feet and projected his voice for his son to hear, "Come on son! You're not going to surpass me like that!" It may have come out as a taunt, but hopefully it worked.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(on the field)**_

Naruto unsealed Odenta and parried the lightning covered tanto. ' _Damn you old man.'_ Naruto said with a small smile, ' _I can't lose now."_ Naruto had never seen a weapon coated in elemental chakra before, and was surprised at himself that he'd never tried it. Naruto channeled his wind chakra into Odenta and the chakra metal started to shimmer with a thin white veil. The blade felt lighter and faster, and Naruto could feel the blade slice through the air with every slight movement. Naruto concealed his surprise at the immediate difference he felt in the weapon.

Samui continued her attacks with swift slashes and stabs which Naruto was able to parry. He was now matching her extreme speed, parrying and blocking her strikes with his own blade.

Samui leapt back and gained some distance, "Raiton: Taijuu Tsuga! (lightning release: Lightning Hound)" A large dog made of lightning shot out of Samui's hand and began chasing down Naruto. The Konoha prodigy leapt back and dodged side to side trying to evade the beast, wary of making contact with the electricity.

Samui took advantage of the distraction and moved to engage Naruto alongside her lightning jutsu. Samui maneuvered around Naruto and slashed at his back with her lightning clad tanto. Naruto spun around and grabbed onto the blonde kunoichi's wrist, and with a small jump into the air held out his Katana to strike the lightning hound. The electricity flowed through his blade, into his body, and through the wrist and body of Samui.

Samui let out a pained cry as the lightning burned her legs and feet as it visibly leapt from her feet into the ground. The rubber soles of her sandals prevented the two from being electrocuted, but didn't save her from the arcing sparks from the lightning jumping from her body into the earth.

Naruto released her wrist and Samui collapsed to the ground in pain. Naruto held Odenta to Samui's neck as a sign of victory, and A came forward to declare Naruto the winner.

"The winner of this match is Namikaze Naruto of Konoha!" A's voice projected. The crowd erupted into a mixture of boos and cheers once again.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in Konoha)**_

The twins both started to cheer for their older brother, along with the rest of Konoha. Kushina released the breath she'd been holding for what seemed to be an hour. ' _I've never seen that sword...'_ Kushina was saddened that she had not been there to pass on her knowledge of kenjutsu to her son.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in the Kage box)**_

"Did you see that!?" Minato exclaimed, fired up by Naruto's ingenuity which enabled him to pull out the victory, "That's my son!" Minato was unaware that his voice was still projected, which he soon discovered as the crowd laughed at the doting father.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(on the field)**_

Naruto couldn't help but be embarrassed by his Hokage of a father's outburst. It felt good for Naruto to be recognized by Minato... "Cut it out Tou-chan! You're embarrassing me!" Naruto shouted back, to which the crowd erupted into another fit of laughter. ' _If he wants to be a part of my life so be it.'_ Naruto thought. He was still pissed about his treatment but had resolved to get over it.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in the Kumo stands)**_

Tsunade was surprised by the exchange. It appeared that the past 3 years had been erased and Minato and Naruto were the picture of a healthy, loving family. ' _I guess I really was more upset than Naruto was about everything.'_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in Konoha)**_

The village erupted in laughter at their Hokage's fatherly outburst, and Naruto's response. Most of Konoha was not aware of the Namikaze families internal turmoil, so they thought nothing of it. Rin and Mikoto, however, were surprised at the complete 180 from what they had expected.

Kushina was speechless as a lump formed in her throat. ' _He doesn't hate us?'_ She thought with a blank expression. They had not been able to talk to their son over the past month about anything that had happened over the past 3 years. She had expected Naruto to hate them, to want nothing to do with them for the rest of his life. For him to smile and joke so easily was astonishing for her.

Several rows down Ayame was positively beaming as she sat next to Yakumo. "Did you see that!? Naruto-kun is amazing!"

"It looked to me like he was about to lose," Yakumo replied dryly, "if you ask me he let it go for far too long."

"I'm sure he was just giving her an opportunity to show her skills to the judges," Ayame said sweetly. "My Naruto-kun is so kind like that."

Yakumo raised a delicate sandy blonde eyebrow before smirking, "your Naruto-kun?"

Ayame blushed, "Yes! My Naruto-kun!" She declared boldly.

Kushina witnessed the loud declaration and smiled sweetly at the cute brunette girl who had proclaimed Naruto as her's.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(on the field)**_

"The next fight will be between Omoi of Kumo vs Fu of Takigakure." A's voice boomed.

The dark skinned boy with a sucker in his mouth, along with the green haired kunoichi made their ways down onto the field.

"What if this fight goes overboard and I end up killing her? Then Taki will have lost two of their shinobi in Kumo. They might think it was all a conspiracy and Kumo planned to kill Taki shinobi. Then they'll be forced to retaliate against Kumo and start a war. Then all the villages in this alliance will have to take sides and the entire shinobi world will b plunged into the fourth great shinobi war..." Omoi wondered out loud.

"What are you talking about?" Fu asked deadpanning. "I'm going to kick your ass..."

They were face to face in the crater that served as their battleground. "Are both fighters ready?" Omoi was about to protest before A, who was familiar with his brothers students eccentricities, cut him off. "Fight!"

Fu sped forward faster than Omoi could have possibly been prepared to defend and punched him hard in the stomach. Omoi coughed up a large wad of blood, which, if he was conscious for any longer, he would have sworn contained some chunks of intestine.

The entire arena was silent. Nobody had expected this. The Taki genin had destroyed one of Kumo's top genin, trained by killer-bee himself, in under a second.

A rushed forward, lightning cloak activated, to prevent any follow on blows, but Fu merely turned around and walked back to the competitors box. "Omoi of Kumo is unable to continue. Winner by knockout is Fu of Takigakure."

Medical nin rushed onto the field and wasted no time stopping the internal bleeding. The repair of his organs would have to wait until they stabilized him.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in the competitor's box)**_

All the contestants were shocked, except Yugito who had been told my Matatabi of Fu's jinjuriki status. The Nanabi was much more powerful than the Niibi, but Yugito had mastered her biju's power and trained with Killer-Bee, the most powerful perfect jinjuriki in the elemental nations.

' _Is that the true power of a jinjuriki?'_ Naruto wondered. ' _Is Rin-chan that strong? Will Mito and Ashina become... like that? How the hell do I possibly beat that?"_ Naruto didn't doubt he was capable of avoiding that attack, but if they came in rapid succession and he was forced into the defensive he wasn't sure how long he could keep her at bay without the use of his mokuton.

"The next match will begin after a 30 minute intermission!" A said, marking the end of the first half of the third round.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Kage box)**_

"So that's the Nanabi jinjuriki..." Said the Raikage. "Taki seems to be trying to make a statement by sending a joingu user and their jinjuriki to these exams."

"In light of recent alliances they're probably trying to tell us not to take them lightly," said the Kazekage. "Your son fights her next round, Hokage. How do you think he'll fare?"

Minato thought on the question, "I don't know," he answered honestly. "If he's anything like his teachers though, I'm sure it'll be a spectacle to watch." he added cryptically. He may not have known much about Naruto, but he did know about Hiruzen, Tsunade, and Obito, and if Naruto was truly a student of those 3 then he was certainly a force to be reckoned with. ' _I just wish I wouldn't have been so blind for so long. Then maybe I could have contributed to his greatness up to this point.'_ Minato wished he was allowed to go down and give his son some last minute words of wisdom, but such action was strictly forbidden and would result in his son's disqualification.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Competitor's box)**_

Kurotsuchi approached the blonde boy she'd looked forward to fighting. "It looks like we won't get our rematch like we'd hoped."

Naruto shot her a dangerous look, "don't worry, you're not going to get off that easily," he taunted back. "I'll win against Fu, then I'm coming for you."

Kurotsuchi glared at him, "Even if you do somehow manage to win in the next round there's no way you're going to be able to beat me."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Naruto said with a confident grin.

That grin infuriated the Iwa kunoichi, "Just don't lose idiot." she said before stomping away.

"So how do you plan on defeating that Fu girl?" Asked Itachi.

"I sensed her chakra during that attack. It's the biju's. If I can manage to disrupt that connection somehow then I think I'll be able to beat her"

"And how are you going to do that?" Itachi asked his best friend.

"That's what I have to figure out. More importantly, I can't feel Kabuto anymore. There's a lot of walls between us and the hospital. I hope he's doing all right."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(arena hospital)**_

The white haired boy was stable and no longer in critical condition. His burns were severe, but they had been taken care of by the medical professionals. The main concern was the head injury he had suffered as a result of the explosion.

 _Flashback_

"I'm leaving the village." A white skinned snake like man hissed.

"Take me with you," a white haired 5 year old boy begged.

"I can't take you with me right now. But we will meet each other again Kabuto-kun," the snake man hissed. "Until then I'll leave you this gift." Orochimaru's head shot out from his extended neck and bit the glasses wearing orphan on the neck.

Kabuto felt a searing pain on the base of his shoulder and began screaming. His vision became hazy as the pain took over and began to force him into unconsciousness. Before he passed out Kabuto saw a spiky haired figure with his arm in a sling walk out of the shadows.

"Use him how you see fit," Kabuto heard Orochimaru hiss as if he were very far away. "Just remember, he is mine." was the last thing he heard before the darkness overtook him.

 _End flashback_

Kabuto's eyes shot open as he felt a distantly familiar burning on the base of his neck and a sudden rush of power that followed. His wounds began to heal instantaneously as the black flame pattern overtook the right half of his body.

Kabuto allowed the strange power running through him to heal his wounds while doing his best to suppress the negative effects he felt the power having on his mind. After the healing process was complete Kabuto focused all of his willpower into pulling the power back. Forcing the power to recede was more difficult that Kabuto had expected it would be, but he managed to seal it back to its origin on the base of his neck.

' _I forgot how good it felt...'_ thought Kabuto.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(two hours later)**_

"We will start the second round of the third exam tomorrow at 1000." A said

The rest of the first round went by relatively quickly as the only good matchup was between the two Iwa genin. Yugito, Yugao, and Itachi had all made quick work of their opponents. Hayate had put up a good fight against Itachi for the first several minutes but was eventually outclassed by the Uchiha prodigy.

"Finally!" Let's go see if we can see Kabuto!" Naruto said to his best friend. "... oh yeah and congratulations."

"Whatever, let's go check on Kabuto."

Naruto and Itachi met no resistance on their way down to the hospital, where they were quickly able to find their friend with Naruto's sensory jutsu unimpeded by the thick walls.

"How you doing you white haired weirdo?" Naruto asked entering the hospital room. Both Naruto and Itachi froze at the sight of a completely unharmed Kabuto.

"Hello Naruto-san, Itachi-san." Kabuto greeted in a blank tone. That was unusual for Kabuto who generally greeted the two with a smile.

"Are you... okay?" asked Naruto. He obviously looked okay, there wasn't a scratch on him, but both Naruto and Itachi instantly noticed the drastic change in personality.

"I'm more than okay," Kabuto said cryptically. "In fact, I don't think I've ever felt better in my life."

"Okay..." said Naruto, confused by the uncharacteristic response. "So... If you're feeling good do you want to come get something to eat with us? The tournament has let out until 1000 tomorrow."

"Yes, some food sounds good." Kabuto continued in the same blank tone.

Naruto and Itachi shared a concerned look, "alright, get dressed and let's go," said Naruto, producing a pair of Kabuto's regular shinobi attire from the seal on his wrist.

"Thank you Naruto-kun, I'll be out in a moment."

Naruto and Itachi exited the room to wait in the hallway. "Okay,tell me he's acting weird as fuck!" Naruto whispered.

"He's acting weird as fuck." Itachi whispered back, "He must have hit his head pretty hard during that explosion... we should keep an eye on him."

"Right..." They waited outside the hospital room for several minutes before Kabuto walked out in his purple clothes. "You ready?" Naruto asked.

"Yes Naruto-kun," Kabuto said with a smile that Naruto and Itachi could both tell was forced. ' _I can't fake emotions with those two... I can't lie either... the most I can manage to do is feign being injured somehow. That's not exactly a lie.'_ Kabuto thought. He couldn't tell his teammates about the curse seal and what it had done to his psyche, they would try to do something about it. Kabuto wanted to keep it, he wanted to use it, but he would have to tread very carefully around Naruto and Itachi.

XXX END CHAPTER 17 XXX

So the battle between Samui and Naruto. Team 5 is not used to fighting solo, as you can see with both Kabuto and Naruto's fights. They were struggling against opponents they normally would have had no problem with if it were a team vs team matchup. That's just how they work and I did it that was to help accentuate the bond Naruto shares with his team, and how team 5 has become like his substitute family (the same as in the military where the guys in your squad become like your brothers).

Just so we're clear, Naruto didn't never want anything to do with his parents (I hate double negatives), he just resolved to surpass them without their help. It's kind of like an extreme 'I'm going to make it on my own' kind of attitude, and the way I see it there's nothing wrong with that. He just doesn't want to ride on his father's coattails. That's not to say he's not mad, he is, but Naruto's character is to be forgiving and he will welcome his parents into his family relatively quickly. (I also don't want to write an overly angsty Naruto). If Naruto forgiving his parents so quickly bothers you... I don't care it's my story, deal with it.

And Kabuto! What the hell is going on there? He gets a little more backstory and the team 5 wildcard that is Kabuto gets more rounded out. I'll be honest, he's becoming my favorite character so far simply because he's more complex and there are so many questions revolving around him.

Please don't ask what's going to happen next, I'm not going to tell you. Just read on and enjoy the ride.


	18. Chapter 18: Promises

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 18: Promises

Minato had gotten special permission to speak to Naruto between rounds so long as Minato did not divulge any advice to his son regarding the tournament. Nobody was to be given any kind of unfair advantage.

Minato knocked on one of the many doors that lined the hallway and waited for an answer. The door opened to reveal a beautiful young woman in lingerie holding a whip. "Yes? Can we help you?" The orange haired woman asked seemingly unaware of how she was dressed.

"Erm... is Naruto in there?" Minato asked dumbly with a nosebleed flowing down his face.

"Who?" The 20 something year old woman asked.

' _Oh thank god...'_ Minato thought in relief. "Looks just like me, but 8."

"Oh yeah! He's such a nice kid, he helped Tatsuki untie me when-"

"-Orihime, come back to bed!" whined another feminine voice from within the room.

"Oh! Just a moment!" The woman known as Orihime called back. "Anyways, he's across the hall!" she said cheerfully before running back in the hotel room, forgetting to close the door behind her.

"Thanks..." Minato whispered with blood pouring from both nostrils as he heard giggles coming from inside. Minato closed the door for them and wiped the blood off his face with a napkin before turning around and knocking on the door belonging to his son.

Several seconds passed before Naruto answered the door with a wide shit eating grin, "so you met Orihime-chan and Tatsuki-chan."

"How'd you- right, you're a sensor," Minato said. "Why didn't you stop me?"

"It was funny," Naruto shrugged. "I assume you want to come in." Naruto stepped to the side welcoming his father inside.

Minato made his way inside the hotel room and took a seat on the foot of the neatly made bed. "Naruto, I-"

"You don't have to apologize. I'd actually prefer if you didn't. Let's just pretend it never happened."

"We can't just pretend it didn't happen, son. We mistreated you for the past 3 years. That's 3 years of your life that we've missed and we'll never get back." Minato argued.

"And that's your punishment." Naruto stated simply. "You have to live without memory of my childhood. I have a family. I have Jiji, Tsunade-baachan, Shizune-chan, Rin-chan, I've got Obito-sensei, Itachi, and Kabuto. Everything I've ever needed they were there for me: for my first day of school, for when I was having trouble with a jutsu, when I got hurt during training, when I became a genin, for my first kill. I didn't miss out, I've had a great life without you so far." Naruto said calmly. "If you and Kaa-san want to be a part of my family, great, you're more than welcome; but I don't need you and I certainly don't need your sympathy."

Minato was taken aback by Naruto's bluntness and the harshness of his words. It was hard to believe that he was still a child at 8 years old; most children would pout and throw a tantrum, but Naruto simply forgave.

He looked at the boy who, aside from his hairstyle, looked like himself at that age for several moments. The resolve in Naruto's eyes was unwavering, "Very well... son."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Kumo arena, 1000 the next day)**_

"Because both fighters from the first match have been eliminated Kurotsuchi of Iwa will receive a second round bye. We will move on to the second fight of the second round: Namikaze Naruto of Konoha vs Fu of Takigakure!"

Both Naruto and Fu were already on the field which had been resurfaced by doton users last night. If either of them were nervous it didn't show in the slightest. Naruto had made too many promises to lose here today. He'd promised Itachi he'd kick his ass, and he'd have to make it to the finals for that to happen. He promised Kurotsuchi he'd kick her ass... a lot of these promises involved kicking someone's ass... and he would have to win here in order to keep that promise. And He had promised Ayame to kick everyone's ass. With all those promises Naruto had to be an ass kicking machine.

"Are you both ready?" Asked A.

"Hai!"

"Begin!"

Fu charged at Naruto the same way she had against Omoi, only this time faster and with the intent to kill. The Nanabi's chakra was going crazy. ' _What's wrong Chomei?'_ _ **His chakra! His chakra is dangerous! Don't let him use THAT chakra!**_ Chomei shrieked wildly. The Nanabi tended to be one of the more reclusive biju, and it wasn't uncommon for her to desire to get away from conflict, but the drive to exterminate the young blonde was a new sensation for Fu.

Naruto tried to move out of the way and took a glancing blow to his stomach as he turned to dodge. The glancing blow felt as if the top layer of his skin had been torn off, which wasn't far from the truth, Naruto's jacket was left in shreds around the belly area and he had what would turn into a pretty nasty bruise across the center of his abdomen.

Fu spun around and aimed a hard elbow directly at Naruto's jaw which he narrowly dodged by leaning backwards, but was unable to dodge the hard left fist that followed as Fu spun completely through and struck him in the side of the head.

Naruto tumbled to a stop 30 yards away, seeing stars an encountering Fu, who had chased him down once more. ' _This chakra is insane! I have to do something about it quick or she's going to beat the shit out of me!'_ the process of Naruto narrowly dodging several blows before being hit with one continued for several minutes, but every time Naruto got back up.

Fu rushed at him once more, and a dazed Naruto was unable to react to the hard kick to the left side of his head. Naruto had only been able to keep up with Fu to some extent thanks to his sensory jutsu. He was able to focus on her and sense her chakra build up in the part of her body she was using to augment her physical strength, but the repeated blows to the head was messing with his focus and ability to process the information.

Naruto clambered back to his feet expecting to get knocked around again. His face was swollen and bloody, his clothes were torn to shreds, and he was both physically and mentally exhausted. Naruto looked around, the arena was spinning and he felt his knees buckle underneath him.

"How are you still fighting?" asked Fu, ignoring to protests from Chomei to kill the twerp. "Anyone else would be unconscious, dead, or have quit by now."

Naruto's vision slowly came into focus on the green haired kunoichi 20 yards from him. He took a moment to process what she'd said, and as he regained his senses he responded. "I promised that I would win." he said simply through his busted lip and locked up jaw. "I never go back on my word. That's my nindo."

Fu understood what he meant. He was tough, there was no doubt about it, and if Chomei was so determined to kill him he had to be exceptionally powerful. "Why haven't you shown me your true power yet?" she didn't know what that power was, but she knew that he would need it to best her.

Naruto thought about it for a moment. Even with mokuton he would be hard pressed to beat her at this point. "Another promise."

Fu nodded her head in understanding. At the moment it was all she could do to suppress the Nanabi control. The beast was going crazy inside of her. Slowly a visible cloak of red chakra surrounded her. She sprouted a set of 4 wings from her lower back. ' _No, Chomei stop!'_ Fu pleaded as the giant insect began to take control of her vessel. _**We have to kill him! He's going to use it! HE'S GOING TO USE IT!**_ The shriek rang throughout Fu's mind. ' _What is he going to use? Chomei, tell me what's going on!'_ _ **The Mokuton! I can feel it inside of him! He's going to use it to control me just like Senju Hashirama did!**_

Naruto felt the same fierce, uncontrollable chakra he'd felt all those years ago, except now instead of rage and hate he felt fear and panic radiating off the biju. Naruto had to act now, while the bijuu and jinjuriki were struggling for control. Naruto unsealed a tag and ran at the winged creature. Fu was now coated with a thick cloak of crimson chakra. ' _This is the kind of thing I swore I'd get strong enough to protect the people I love against!'_ Naruto made a hand seal and produced three solid clones which all dashed to opposite sides of Fu, boxing her in.

Naruto and his clones closed in, the clones grabbing hold of Fu from the sides and back as the original Naruto attempted to slap the sealing tag on her chest.

Chomei was in control. She had suppressed Fu's consciousness and was looking dead in the eyes. With a loud shrill cry Fu let out a powerful burst of chakra that burned Naruto and blew him away. Naruto's clones that were holding onto Fu dispelled and relayed the information back to Naruto.

' _My only hope is to disrupt its chakra.'_ Naruto thought as Fu took to the air. The winged creature began dive bombing Naruto, who could do nothing but jump out of the way.

A was poised to stop the fight right then before Naruto stopped him.

"Don't stop the fight! I can beat her!" Naruto shouted at everyone who was preparing to end it, Kage included. "Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu! (earth release: hiding like a mole technique)" Naruto dove into the ground and sensed Fu's confusion at his absences as she turned around to dive bomb again.

Naruto tracked the jinjuriki's movements as it flew low to the ground to search for the blonde mokuton user. Naruto was ready to leap out of the earth and strike when he felt a strange chakra saturate the area. ' _What is she doing now?'_

Fu stopped and hovered in the middle of the arena awaiting a response from the insects she had called out to.

Naruto understood now. He could sense the insects living underground searching for him, one such insect found him and let off a pheromone, alerting Fu to his location. ' _Shit!'_

Fu flew high in the air before speeding downward, directly over Naruto's position, holding out her fist. Fu crashed into the ground with the force of a devastating meteor, creating a large crater in the ground deeper than the one made by the paper bombs the day prior.

Naruto, once again, slowly clambered back up to his feet. ' _That almost killed me,'_ he thought. If he had not made the wood dome underground to defend himself he would surely be dead. The force of the impact had disintegrated the mokuton jutsu, so there was no trace for anyone to link him to the Shodaime kekkei genkai.

Fu studied the younger boy for a moment. Chomei was more intrigued than frightful at the moment. She had felt him use the mokuton, but not to attack her, only as his last ditch hope for survival. " _ **What are you?"**_ Chomei asked in a buzzing voice.

"I am Namikaze Naruto," he responded.

" _ **Not your name. Who are you? What do you desire?"**_

Naruto could have said that he wanted to become more powerful than his father, or that he wanted to protect his home, but he got the sense that those answers were too shallow for what the ancient creature was asking him. "I want... I want to understand... I want to understand you, and I want to understand others. That way there will be no need for all this. We won't have to show off military strength to prevent war. And we won't have to seal powerful beings like yourself inside of people to make our villages stronger." Naruto answered quietly, so that only Chomei could hear. He knew he was talking to the biju at the moment.

" _ **You don't want to control us?"**_ The great insect queen asked, " _ **you, a mokuton user, who has the power to control the biju does not desire to use our power for military or political gain?"**_ It also spoke softly so no unwelcome ears would be privy to their conversation.

"No." Naruto was not aware that the mokuton could control the biju, but upon learning this information he had no desire to take that kind of power for himself.

" _ **How can I believe you? Why shouldn't I kill you right here?"**_

"Because I give you my word." Naruto stated with all the resolve he could muster.

" _ **Ideals change over time, child. How do you know you will feel the same way after your home is taken from you, and all those you love die?"**_

"I... I don't know..." said Naruto disappointed in his lack of an answer.

" _ **I'll tell you. You can't. Humans are all the same, no matter how powerful you are you will lose something close to you and you will grow to hate, and in that hatred you will end up wagging war and beget more hate. You are too powerful to be left alive child. I cannot allow one like yourself to live."**_ The jinjuriki sped back towards Naruto, poised to strike and kill the blonde.

Naruto stepped to the side, allowing the chakra coated fist to pass by his head and slapped the tag in his right hand onto Fu's forehead.

The force from the impact on his hand dislocated Naruto's shoulder. Naruto made a one handed hand seal and black kanji enveloped the red cloak of the jinjuriki. Fu's body tried to claw at the tag to peel it away but the tag was fueled by her own chakra, and the more the Nanabi tried to resist the stronger the seal became.

The dust from the impact of Fu's crater producing strike on the ground settled and the crowd was greeted with the sight of a beaten up, exhausted Naruto seated upright on the ground as the thing of most people's nightmares writhed against the restraint of the seal. After a few seconds Naruto dragged himself back to his feet and approached the jinjuriki. Producing a brush from the storage seal on his dislocated arm Naruto drew another seal on Fu's back. This seal disrupted the connection between Fu and Chomei, and the red chakra cloak began to recede back into the jinjuriki seal.

When the chakra cloak had receded entirely Fu's body was left on the ground completely skin less and unconscious.

"Winner by... Knockout? Namikaze Naruto!" A shouted. The entire arena exploded in cheers. Nobody had seen the end of the fight thanks to the dust Fu had kicked up, but they had all fully expected to be met with the sight of a dismembered Namikaze strewn across the battlefield.

Naruto remained on his feet just long enough to hear A's proclamation of his victory before he fell flat on his back and allowed the pain and exhaustion to overtake him and drag him to the sweet sweet blackness of unconsciousness.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(kage box)**_

Every Kage was speechless. An 8 year old genin had stopped a rampaging jinjuriki, and by the looks of it would live to tell the tail.

"What the fuck did I just witness?" asked the Raikage.

"My son just whooped a jinjuriki's ass!" Exclaimed Minato.

"That was obviously a very weak jinjuriki," Onoki retorted. "The girl was obviously suppressing the Nanabi power as much as she could, and that tag was just dumb luck."

"Yeah? And how many of us took on a jinjuriki with a 4 tail cloak at 8 years old?" Minato asked rhetorically. "And won, I might add."

Onoki opened his mouth to speak once more before the Kazekage stopped him. "It is indeed an impressive feat Tsuchikage-sama. Just let the doting father have this one."

Minato continued to gloat and unceremoniously make an ass of himself in front of his peers.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in Konoha)**_

The entire village was going crazy over the battle. The cheers and clamor was deafening. Every girl within 5 years of Naruto's age was positively swooning over the blonde child. Every mother was trying to make plans for their daughters to marry the boy.

"We're going to have a hard time keeping the girls from having their way with him when he gets back," joked Rin.

Kushina didn't hear the joke, much to Rin's disappointment, fore she was cheering the loudest of everyone in Konoha. "YOU ALL SEE THAT! THAT'S MY SON! MY SON IS THE STRONGEST DAMN SHINOBI TO EVER COME OUT OF THIS VILLAGE!"

The twins were cheering heartily themselves, although they didn't know exactly what their older brother had just accomplished. Unlike the rest of the majority of the village, Mito and Ashina had no idea what a biju was. Nonetheless they were having a great time matching the enthusiasm of the rest of the crowd.

With the other members of the Hyuga family the young heiress looked up at the screen in awe. ' _That's the boy who saved me.'_ she thought as she looked at the image of the boy she had become so infatuated with over the past several months. This fight only furthered her obsession with the eldest Namikaze child.

Ayame smiled up at the screen, ' _that's my boyfriend!'_ she thought. ' _Now all I have to do is tell him and that'll be that!'_ she had a satisfied smirk as she listened to the other girls talk about her Naruto. He was hers and that's all there was to it.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(In the stands, Kumo)**_

"That brat just made me a killing!" Tsunade shouted. After word had gotten out that Fu was a jinjuriki the odds on Naruto winnin had plummeted. Tsunade had just made 230 ryo for every one she had put down on her favorite blonde, adding up to nearly 5 million.

"Sounds like you might be able to use that to finally pay off your debts." Hiruzen said under his breath.

"I heard that sensei!"

"You were meant to."

Shizune had already made her way down to the arena hospital to check on her little brother figure.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(arena hospital, a few hours later)**_

Naruto had awoken in a daze. His body was still stiff, but aside from that he felt fine. He looked around and saw he was surrounded by loved ones. Tsunade and Shizune were on his right, ensuring he was healthy, Hiruzen, Obito, Minato, Kabuto, and Itachi were on his left.

"How're you feeling Kid?" Asked Obito.

"I feel fine," He replied through parched lips. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Three hours," said Hiruzen.

Naruto shot up in his bed, "I have to get out to the field!"

"Relax, they have to resurface the field again after your fight," Hiruzen chuckled. "The semifinal round has been postponed until tomorrow morning, with the finals tomorrow night."

Naruto looked over to his best friend, "I won my match," Itachi said, seemingly reading Naruto's mind.

"What about the other one?" Naruto asked, referring to the match directly after his.

"Yugito Nii of Kumo." Itachi told him.

This is not what Naruto wanted to hear. He had already faced a jinjuriki and barely came out of it alive, he did not wish for his friend to have to face off against such a powerful being. "She's a jinjuriki too."

"I know." Itachi told his blonde friend. Noticing the puzzled look on his face he elaborated, "Obito-sensei told me."

Naruto looked over to their one eyed sensei. "The identities of the Kumo jinjuriki isn't really a secret," Obito explained. "Kumo isn't like most places where the people fear the jinjuriki because of the power they contain. They actually treat them like heroes because of the burden they bear."

Naruto thought back to how Rin and his siblings were treated in Konoha. They weren't treated poorly but people seemed wary around them, and Naruto could sense many citizens get nervous in their presence. ' _I wonder what it's like in Taki for Fu?'_ Naruto looked up to his friend once more, "just..."

"Don't worry about me. If you can take on a jinjuriki in full on chakra cloak form there's no way I can't pull off the same feat." Itachi assured Naruto.

Minato looked between his son and all those present. He had seen the relief in their faces when Naruto opened his eyes and was okay. He had watched Tsunade and Shizune pouring so much chakra into his body to heal even the most minor injuries. He saw the genuine concern in Itachi and Obito's eyes, and he had never seen Hiruzen Sarutobi so worried. ' _Naruto, you truly have found a family.'_

XXX END CHAPTER 18 XXX

Naruto beats Fu. Pretty impressive right? So far we've seen 4 jinjuriki (5 counting both twins) and we can see that they all have different relationships with their biju based on the character and the biju's personality. Yugito and Matatabi have a big sister little sister relationship. Chomei is like a big skittish pet that Fu has to reign in and try to keep calm. Isobu is pretty amicable and Rin is very kind to him. And Kurama is a dick; he's always been a dick, a even though Kishimoto made him a good guy, he's still kind of a dick. I don't want you all to think I just made young Naruto Jiraiya level cus he beat a 4 tail chakra cloak. Naruto won because Fu was holding Chomei back, and Chomei's heart wasn't totally into killing Naruto after their talk. Not all biju want to kill everything in sight, the Nanabi just wants to be left alone.

Two more chapters until the end of the Chunin exams, then the time skip! Woohoo!


	19. Chapter 19: Expect the unexpected

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 19: Expect the Unexpected

Naruto and Kurotsuchi stood on the twice resurfaced battlefield. Since they'd arrived at the arena that morning Kurotsuchi had her eyes on her blonde opponent. He seemed to be healthy after the last round. Since his clothes from yesterday had been torn apart Naruto was now wearing a pair of clay colored pants and an off white long sleeve jacket over his mesh armor shirt. The jacket had long loose sleeves and the hem fell down to just below his buttocks. The high loose collar came up to his ears and had a red Uzumaki swirl embroidered on the back. If Kurotsuchi was being honest with herself, about half the reason she'd been looking at Naruto so intently was because he looked damn good in his new outfit.

Naruto liked his new clothes well enough, Minato and Tsunade had gone out to get it for him the night before, he just wished the jacket was darker; either a dark grey or black. Either way, it was light, comfortable, and nonrestrictive so he just shrugged it off.

Kurotsuchi looked the same as she was when Naruto first met her, except for a new fire in her eyes. She was excited by the prospect of fighting a powerful opponent and bringing honor to her village. She was the prodigy of Iwa, and the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage himself. She aspired to become Tsuchikage herself, and become the first kunoichi to ever reach the rank of Kage. She wanted to be strong enough to defend her village from all enemies, to include those as powerful as the Yellow Flash. She couldn't lose here, especially to _him._ The Yellow Flash's son, the boy who had bested a jinjuriki not one day prior.

After seeing Naruto beat Fu, Kurotsuchi was shocked. She had never felt so much power radiating off one being before. She had met the jinjuriki of her village, but both men, as moody as they were, were both in full control of their power. She had never felt the chakra of a biju, and for Naruto to have overcome that... it gave her a new sense of purpose. It gave her something to prove.

"So you made it this far after all," she said trying to appear nonchalant.

"Don't act so surprised," Naruto said with a smirk. "I told you I'd make it here to kick your ass, didn't I?"

"You go ahead and think that. You're going to need more than a day to recover after I'm done with you," she said with confidence.

"If you two are done flirting let's get on with it," A interjected.

"What!? We weren't flirting? We were shit talking!" Naruto said using expressive gestures, trying and failing to drive home the point.

"Whatever you say," A said in a teasing tone he only ever used to get a rise out of his brothers student Karui. "Are you both ready?" Both genin nodded, "Begin!"

"Doton: Doryuusoo! (earth release: earth flow spears)" Kurotsuchi shouted, making a single hand seal.

Naruto felt the kunoichi moulding earth nature chakra before she initiated the jutsu and leapt in the air towards her. Stalactite shot out of the ground all around where he had been. A spear of earth erupted from the ground, blocking his approach; unsealing Odenta from his wrist, Naruto slashed through the earth spear with his wind covered blade. He couldn't use any raiton techniques yet, so fuuton and doton were his best options ninjutsu wise; both being neutral against doton.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (fire release: great fireball technique)" The stalactite split and Naruto was faced with a large fireball speeding towards him.

"Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu! (Water Release: Water Bullet Technique)" Naruto shot a ball of water from his mouth which collided with, and overpowered Kurotsuchi's fire jutsu.

"Doton: Doryūheki! (earth release: earth-style wall)" Kurotsuchi slammed her palm to the ground and a large earth wall jutted up, protecting her from the water jutsu. ' _Suiton, Doton, and Fuuton? As a genin? Damn! Well he can counter all my Katon techniques so it looks like I have to stick with Doton.'_ "Doton: Gōremu no Jutsu! (Earth Release: Stone Golem Technique)" Kurotsuchi opened her mouth and a large stone humanoid looking creature formed in front of her.

The golem ran forward to start engaging Naruto, meanwhile Kurotsuchi formed 5 rock clones that ran around to encircle the blonde and her golem.

The golem was slow, at least compared to a shinobi, but it could take a hit. Even Naruto's wind covered Odenta couldn't cut through it all the way. Naruto had no trouble dodging the punches sent towards him, but no matter what he did he was unable to destroy the jutsu. ' _Shit,'_ Naruto thought as his sword got stuck in the neck of the stone golem, effectively disarming him for the moment, ' _I have to use that jutsu.'_

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (fire release: great fireball technique)" Naruto felt the build up of fire chakra from all of Kurotsuchi's rock clones and dove underground to avoid being burned alive. "You're not getting away from me that easy! Doton: Kaido Shōkutsu! (Earth Release: Opening Earth Rising Excavation)." A small volcano shaped mountain erupted from the ground, launching Naruto high into the air. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (fire release: great fireball technique)" Kurotsuchi fired six fireballs toward him, combining into a single massive inferno.

"Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Bullet Technique)" Naruto fired a much larger water bullet than last time to negate the katon jutsu. A heavy mist concealed Kurotsuchi and her earth jutsu from view, but Naruto could sense the golem taking position where Naruto was to land, cocking its fist back, prepared for an unavoidable finishing blow.

Naruto held his open palm to the side and chakra began to swirl and take form into a visible spinning blue sphere. "Rasengan!" the Yondaime's signature jutsu made contact with the golem's outstretched fist, grinding it's way through the dense rock and obliterating it.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in the kage box)**_

"Rasengan? I never taught him that." Minato said out loud.

The other Kage shared his astonishment, but were too intrigued with the battle that was unfolding to look spare the Hokage a questioning glance.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(on the field)**_

Naruto retrieved Odenta from the rubble that served as the remains of the stone golem. Channeling wind chakra into the blade, Naruto went to work cutting down Kurotsuchi's rock clones.

To Naruto's surprise the clones didn't dispel upon dismemberment like his kage bushin would have, but continued attacking him, despite their missing limbs. The 5 clones surrounded him and began engaging him in a furious 5 on 1 taijutsu battle.

Naruto attempted to check a kick with his shin to find the clones had the consistency of rock and almost broke his leg. Naruto slashed at the neck of one clone, who ducked, and he ended up scalping the next clone over, which then crumbled into a pile of rubble.

"Yōton: Shakugaryūgan no Jutsu! (Lava release: Scorching Rock Technique)"

' _Yonton? What the hell is that?'_ Naruto thought as the remaining 4 rock clones latched onto him to prevent his escape from the barrage of molten rock.

The balls of magma impacted with the ground and began to melt the earth beneath it. ' _I didn't mean to kill him...'_ Kurotsuchi thought. Then again, Yonton was her ace in the hole.

"Rasengan!" Naruto bursted out of the ground beneath Kurotsuchi's feet and his rasengan connected with her chin. He powered down the attack significantly in order to not kill or maim the kunoichi, but the spiraling ball of chakra still managed to break her jaw and knock her out cold.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in the stands)**_

"How the hell did he escape from that?" Shizune asked to noone in particular.

"He hid a kage bushin underground when he was fighting the girls rock clones and Kawarimied with it when he saw there was no other way to escape," answered Obito, who had been watching with his sharingan. "I doubt he expected her to have an ace like the Yonton, but it was impressive foresight on his part to prepare for the worst." Both Hiruzen and Tsunade nodded at Obito's analysis. They hadn't seen it like he had, but both Kage level shinobi had deduced as much in the end.

The watched on as A called the fight and proclaimed Naruto the victor, followed by a team of medic nin who ran down to treat the unconscious Iwa kunoichi.

The crowd was still confused about what had just transpired and several seconds passed before the first applause echoed through the stadium. Following suit the rest of the spectators joined in, and soon the entire arena was flooded with cheers and applause.

' _These kids sure are giving them their money's worth,'_ Tsunade thought with a smile.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in Konoha)**_

The citizens of the village shared the same reaction as the spectators at the actual event, except the pause before the uproarious cheers was much more short lived.

' _When did he learn Rasengan?'_ Kushina thought, though she quickly pushed that thought to the back of her mind as she joined in with the rest of the crowd that had gathered to watch the final rounds of the tournament.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(ten minutes later, in the arena)**_

After a brief intermission for the spectators to use the restroom and replenish their refreshments Itachi and Yugito stood face to face, ready to square off for their match.

 _ **He seems like the type who likes strong women, kitten. You better not go easy on him... Just don't mark up his pretty face too bad.**_ ' _SHUT UP MATATABI!'_ _ **Okay, maybe just a little. A few battle scars will give a nice rugged look to your lion.**_ ' _I swear if you don't cut it out I'll... I'll start dating Omoi!'_ Matatabi piped up quickly. She wasn't a fan of the overly paranoid genin.

Itachi eyed the blonde girl in front of him and caught himself gazing into her onyx eyes. His gaze shifted down to her soft shiny looking lips. He quickly shook the thoughts from his head and adopted a serious look. ' _Ok, she's cute, just don't get distracted and fight her like you would anyone else.'_

"Are you two ready?" asked A, he recognized the face Yugito made when the Niibi was annoying her. Both Itachi and Yugito nodded, getting into their ready stances. "Begin!"

They both sped towards each other in an impressive display of quickness, and began engaging in a taijutsu battle. Itachi, with his three tomoe sharingan active, and Yugito, with her nimble body and catlike reflexes, proved extremely difficult for the other to land a blow on. To the spectators looking on it appeared that the two were engaged in a fast paced, well choreographed dance.

Itachi was able to react to all of Yugito's blows before she made them, but wasn't able to counter any of them due to the jinjuriki's swiftness. He kept a level head and calmly waited out his chance to capitalize on a mistake.

Yugito was quickly becoming frustrated, as she had in their previous bout, and had to restrain herself from becoming reckless and over extending to land a punch. She began to draw on Matatabi's chakra to increase her physical speed.

After several minutes of niether parties being able to land anything they broke apart and began going through hand seals.

"Nezumi Kedama! (mouse hairball)" Yugito and Itachi shouted simultaneously, spitting out what appeared to be a flaming mouse made of hair.

' _What? How does he know that jutsu? Only I know it thanks to you!'_ Yugito exclaimed internally as she watched both Katon techniques collide with each other, shooting flaming pieces of hair around the surrounding area. _**He's an Uchiha. He can copy all ninjutsu that's not a kekkei genkai with his sharingan.**_

Yugito went through another set of hand seals, copied by Itachi, "Byōen Hōka! (Cat Flame Roaring Fire)" they both shot a fireball towards each other. Having poured Matatabi's chakra into the attack Yugito's was much more powerful, and easily overpowered Itachi's. Itachi dodged to the left and drew Onimaru to begin engaging Yugito up close once more.

Yugito extended and hardened her fingernails and began fending off Itachi's attacks. The two continued to weave through each other's attacks until Yugito managed to drive her nails deep into the Uchiha's neck.

Blood began to pour out of Itachi's mouth and Yugito watched him quickly bleed to death. Panicking she pulled her nails out and applied pressure to his neck wound until the boy's body dispersed into a murder of crows. ' _What the hell?'_ Yugito thought before she found herself shackled to a wooden post in a desolate landscape with a blood red sky.

"I've trapped you in my sharingan's genjutsu." A voice said, as Itachi materialized from a flock of crows.

"Matatabi, help!" Yugito shouted.

"Your biju will help you escape shortly." Itachi replied, "however, I am able to manipulate time in here. This is my world, you see. I can control everything in here."

Yugito's eyes widened and she tried to suck in a gasp of air, but there was no air for her to inhale.

"I'm sure Matatabi will realize you're trapped in here in about two seconds." Itachi said calmly, "but in here, two seconds in the real world will last 3 minutes. And until then you will have no air to breathe."

Itachi released Yugito from her shackles and instead of clawing at her throat, as one normally would while suffocating, Yugito attacked Itachi. She landed her first punch and Itachi broke apart into another murder of crows which reformed several yards away.

"I wouldn't waste your precious breath if I were you. You won't get another one for another 2 minutes and 55 seconds."

Yugito continued her assault on the Uchiha, but every time she landed a blow he would disperse and reform once again. Finally, growing increasingly exhausted, Yugito began clawing at her neck, desperately trying to get a breath of fresh air.

"One more minute." Itachi said in an uncharacteristically cold, disinterested voice.

Yugito began clawing harder at her throat, clawing the skin away. She fell to her knees, blood dripping down her neck, and she felt a powerful pulse of chakra run through her body.

Dispelled from the genjutsu and back in the real world, Yugito fell to her knees and desperately sucked in several rapid shallow breaths of sweet fresh air.

Itachi stood over her with Onimaru to her neck, as the symbol of victory in a spar. Yugito's eyes turned from their regular coal black to a deep red slitted pupil. Red chakra began bubbling to the surface, covering her entire body with a two tail cloak. Her canines grew longer and sharper and her lips turned black; her entire face contorted as her catlike features became more pronounced. " **How dare you do that to Yugito, Uchiha!"** Matatabi's voice resonated, spitting out 'Uchiha' as if it were something foul. The red chakra cloak slowly flickered into blue flames and Yugito's body transformed into a bear sized flaming blue cat.

Itachi's sharingan eyes widened in shock as he looked at Yugito in full biju form. ' _I fucked up.'_ was all he could think. A large fireball formed in front of Matatabi's maw, aimed to burn the Uchiha prodigy to a crisp.

"YOOOOO!" shouted a large dark skinned man with a pair of small sunglasses, as he jumped between Itachi and the fireball. A large tentacle emerged from his back to shield him from the attack. "In the house it's Killer Bee, saving an Uchiha from Matatabi! Yoooo!" The odd man pulled out a notebook and began scribbling notes.

" **Get out of my way Bee!"** Matatabi snarled.

"Can't do that, to let you burn a guest is wack." said Killer Bee, turning to face the flaming feline.

Itachi sweat dropped. He might have said something about the terrible rhyme if the man hadn't just saved his life.

" **You didn't see what he did to Yugito! He deserves to burn for hurting her!"**

"Yugito's a tough one, she wouldn't want to hurt him son!" The great cat ignored being called son at the moment. "Let her out and she'll forgive him, no doubt."

" **Fine,"** the cat biju conceded, " **but if you ever hurt her again I'll bite off your head and cough you up as a hairball,"** she warned Itachi before the biju receded back into Yugito's body.

A walked up onto the scene, He would have intervened himself if Bee hadn't shown up. "Because Uchiha Itachi was victorious before the intervention, he is the victor and will move on to the final round!"

The announcement was met by a round of boos from the majority Kumo crowd. All of them had wanted to see one of their own advance to the final round and take the championship.

Yugito slowly sat up. "Are you okay?" she asked Itachi, embarrassed that she had lost control of Matatabi to such an extent. "I'm sorry... Matatabi can be... overprotective." _**Don't apologize to that brat!**_ ' _I thought you liked him.'_ Yugito attempted to tease. _**That was before he did that to you!**_ She spat the word that, referring to the ocular genjutsu.

"I'm fine. Are you okay? I didn't mean to hurt you or anything like that, I..." He didn't know how to put it. "I just didn't want to treat you any different from anyone else because..."

"What? Because I'm a woman?" Yugito was starting to hold him in high regard, but that line of reasoning was insulting to kunoichi everywhere.

"No! It's not that!" He stammered. "I didn't want to treat you differently because I..." ' _how do you tell a girl you like her?'_ Itachi had never had to tell a girl something like that before. The one time he'd ever felt anything for a girl she'd come onto him first, and had just worn him down until he accepted it.

"Because you..." the young girl in Yugito wished he would just come out and say what she wanted him to already. _**If you mate with him I will eat him.**_ ' _Shut up! I want to hear him talk!'_ Yugito let down her guard momentarily and batted her eyelashes awkwardly. She had never flirted before.

Itachi looked to the side and scratched the back of his head in a very Naruto like gesture. "Because I like you."

Yugito smiled from ear to ear and did everything in her power to contain the urge to kiss the boy. "Good," was the only thing she could manage to say.

"We will now break until 1700 where the final match of these chunin exams will commence. That match will be between Namikaze Naruto and Uchiha Itachi." A's voice echoed throughout the stadium.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in the kage stand)**_

Minato could not have been more elated. Both of the final contestants were from his village, one being his son and the other being his son's best friend. On top of that the two underdogs, simply because of their age, had knocked off every favorite in the tournament. Granted the favorites were all only a few years older than them, but nobody would have thought that the finals of the chunin exams would be between two 8 year olds; and if they had thought so then they would not have expected for both those finalists to have beaten a jinjuriki each and a Yonton user.

"I'd be upset in any other situation, Hokage," A, the Sandaime Raikage said. "But those two boys have shown more than I've ever expected to see in a chunin exam. One of those two might succeed you one day."

"One of them might."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in Konoha)**_

The village was going crazy. Both the prodigies of Konoha were in the finals for the chunin exams, they had both bested jinjuriki, they had both defeated the prodigies from rival villages. Nobody could have hoped for a better outcome. Although the village was split on whom they wanted to win it all, not many particularly cared; everyone, save the Uchiha and Kushina, would be elated either way.

Some of the more drunken and rambunctious spectators had to be carted away, courtesy of the kunoichi they'd tried to get too handsy with. Rin and her longtime friend Kurenai had just finished teaching an Inuzuka chunin a lesson on keeping his hands to himself.

Mito looked at the two with admiration in her eyes. Kushina looked down at her daughter and smiled at the spectacle, Mito couldn't have chosen two better role models as far as she was concerned.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Competitors box)**_

Itachi and Naruto were the only two left in their box. After a brief but heartfelt congratulations the two settled into an uncomfortable silence. They had sparred before, but this was the first time they'd face off in front of a crowd since their spars at the academy. In reality this was no different than their spar not even two months ago, or any of their bouts prior to that, the two always seemed to go all out every time they fought, but this match had a felt like it had some sort of finality for them. They had both essentially made it at this point, they'd never say it out loud, but they both knew that they were both pretty much guaranteed a promotion after the exam; this match was about which one of them was truly the best genin in the entire elemental nations. They hadn't gotten class rankings because of their special case, so this would be their first official ranking against one another.

"Good luck," they both said at the same time. They didn't even look up in surprise that they'd said it simultaneously, that's just how in sync the two best friends were.

They sat in silence, avoiding eye contact for the rest of the time they spent waiting.

XXX END CHAPTER 19 XXX

So the end of this chapter was pretty predictable, Naruto vs Itachi. Sorry about that. But whatever. How'd y'all like the fight scenes? I know some of you may be saying that Jinjuriki are impervious to genjutsu because the biju will just knock them out of it, and while that's true, the biju has to realize the genjutsu is in effect first, and the genjutsu Yugito was under altered time within the genjutsu itself. Personally I liked the Naruto vs Kurotsuchi fight better, I had to put a lot of research into the ninjutsu battles (searching jutsu's that would fit, and translating the jutsu's I make up etc).

I put a little bit of foreshadowing into this chapter, y'all are probably smarter than my dumb ass and have already picked up on it, like you have in previous chapters, just cut me a break I'm new to writing (creative writing). The only writing I do for work is on official documents, and that doesn't leave a whole lot of work for style or creativity. I definitely feel like I'm getting better though.

And before I forget and go do great saiyaman things, Itachi X Yugito... huh? That's something new. Haven't seen that pairing before have you? I'm excited about how that's gonna unfold.


	20. Chapter 20: Rivalry

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 20: Rivalry

 _ **(Kumo arena, 1700)**_

The stands looked like they were even more packed than they had been, if that were even possible. In truth, nearly all of Kumo had crammed itself into the stadium. All but the shinobi guarding the village of course. The rumbling chatter echoed around the stadium until it all came to a sudden halt at the sound of A's deep gravely voice. "Welcome to the final round of this Chunin exam!" He said. "This match will be between Namikaze Naruto of Konoha and Uchiha Itachi of Konoha. There are no rules other than what I say goes. The match will go on until one party surrenders, becomes unable to continue fighting, dies, or if I stop the match to prevent permanent physical injury or death." A explained. "Do you two understand?" both nodded, "Are you both ready," they nodded once more, "BEGIN!" A jumped back to avoid getting in the way of their fight.

"So this is it, huh?" Naruto said quietly, not yet in any sort of ready position.

"I guess so." Itachi replied, in a similar stance as Naruto.

Both boys drew their swords, Naruto unsealing his from his wrist, and Itachi unsheathing his from his hip, and charged at each other. They locked blades with a resounding clang of metal on metal.

Naruto had his eyes closed and was fighting utilizing his sensory jutsu. His sensory ability made it easy for him to identify when he was under a genjutsu, but in a fight like this seconds were precious, and he couldn't risk the split second it would take between recognizing the genjutsu and dispelling it. All was good however, Naruto's perceptive capabilities with the technique alone was enough for him to even predict Itachi's movements, as he had done against Fu.

Itachi had his sharingan activated, he knew better than to play around and test Naruto. They both knew each other too well, there was no build up in order to learn your opponent's abilities then plan for a strategy to defeat them. That was basically standard procedure in a direct confrontation. These two would have to go at it 100% from the start, as to not get caught off guard.

Their wind coated blades both sliced through the wind, resonating with a loud woosh before clanging together. Itachi's Onimaru was slightly shorter than Odenta, but the two were in such close proximity that the reach advantage was negated. Each clash resulted in a white flash, and the pace of the fight was so fast that to the untrained eye the flashes of light would look as if they were sparking from nothingness.

Naruto parried an overhead slash from Itachi and countered with a kick to the side of the knee. Itachi checked the kick and countered with a knee to Naruto's ribs. Naruto stepped in, taking the blow from Itachi's thigh rather than the knee. Now in close Naruto sent a headbutt directly into Itachi's nose.

Naruto knew the best way to get a hit in on his best friend was to take a blow and try to get the best out of a 1 for 1 exchange.

Itachi's eyes began to water thanks to his newly broken nose, and he could taste blood trickle down the back of his throat. Itachi attempted to gain some distance in order to regain his composure, but Naruto would be hard pressed to let even the most miniscule advantage slip through his grasp.

Staying hot on Itachi's tail, Naruto used Odenta's scabbard to strike a blow to Itachi's temple. Itachi ducked the blow and thrust Onimaru straight for Naruto's gut. Naruto parried Onimaru and spun around to strike Itachi in the ear with the scabbard.

Eyes watering, nose bleeding, and ear ringing, Itachi stumbled back, just narrowly avoiding a horizontal slash from Naruto's sword. The wind chakra, which extended Odenta's cutting range slightly, sliced clean through Itachi's shirt and resulted in a somewhat deep cut on his left deltoid and pectoral.

Itachi took several bounds back and drew a handful of shuriken.

' _Shit!'_ Naruto could sense Itachi's movements based on his chakra, and was able to calculate the location of his sword due to its fixed position in Itachi's hand; but there was no way he was going to be able to dodge the Uchiha prodigies shuriken jutsu without his eyes.

Itachi let loose the handful of shuriken and Naruto was forced to open his eyes to dodge the incoming projectiles.

In a blur of speed Itachi rushed face to face with the blue eyed Namikaze after he had dodged the shuriken. Itachi could see Naruto start to shut his eyes once he realized what had happened, but it was too late, they had already made eye contact.

"Fuck!" Naruto cursed inside the dream world, immediately releasing a powerful burst of chakra to escape.

Once he escaped the genjutsu he'd been trapped in for less than a second Naruto, eyes closed once more, felt a slash cut clean through his new jacket and across his chest and abdomen. The cut left a deep gash from his right hip all the way up to his collarbone. The slash had severed the meaty portion of his abdominal muscles, and had cut into his clavicle, just shallow enough to narrowly miss the nerves within the bone.

In a display of resilience Naruto punched Itachi as hard as he could in the eye, sending the Uchiha tumbling several yards away. Naruto felt his chakra quickly getting to work repairing the damage, and although he was grateful for his fast healing ability, it took a significant drain on his next jutsu.

Naruto went through a string of hand seals, "Suiton: Teppoudama! (Water release: Gunshot)" Naruto shot bullet after bullet of basketball sized water balls at Itachi who desperately tried to evade.

"Kaze no Yaiba! (Blade of wind)" Itachi released concentrated wind chakra from his fingertips that cut through the water bullets and continued toward Naruto.

Because he could feel the wind chakra Naruto was able to easily evade the lethal counter and continue his water based assault on Itachi.

"Suiton: U~ōtājetto! (Water release: Water jet)" Naruto shot out a continuous jet of water from his hand.

Itachi was able to more easily avoid the jet of water than he was the bullets, but he was no longer able to counter it with any of his wind jutsu. Itachi leapt over the jet of water and sunk ankle deep into the thick mud below. Itachi let out a burst of wind chakra from his feet and leapt into the air to escape from the mud. Looking around with his right sharingan eye, his left was beginning to swell shut from the earlier punch, Itachi found that the entire arena floor had become soaked and was now soft mud and was beginning to turn into a large shallow pond. ' _He's altered the terrain to his advantage. He knows I don't have an effective counter for suiton, so he's changing the environment to better suit him.'_

Itachi continued to dodge the jet of water until the arena was transformed into a calf deep pool of water.

Naruto released the jutsu, it had taken a significant toll on his chakra reserves, but he was still in fighting condition. His wound had stopped bleeding and were starting to patch itself back together, but it was still incredibly painful. He could feel the gash reopening and healing itself with each breath. Naruto and Itachi were standing on his newly made pond, ' _this'll make it easier for me to perform suiton jutsu for the rest of the fight,'_ he thought.

They faced each other from their positions 20 yards apart. Naruto's eyes were still closed and Itachi's left sharingan eye was nearly completely swollen shut. Naruto was clearly the worse off of the two, but they both knew that for the time being he had the advantage.

Naruto took off his blood soaked jacket and mesh armor shirt and dropped it into the water below, revealing the nasty looking gash across his torso. The blonde chunin hopeful bit his thumb, drawing some blood.

' _Summoning Jutsu? When did he get a summon?'_ Itachi thought.

Naruto began swiftly drawing, using his blood as ink, a symbol on his uncut right pectoral. When the seal was complete he began another seal right next to it.

Itachi didn't know what he was up to, but he wasn't about to let him complete the seal. In the time he had spent with team 5 he had developed a healthy respect for the sealing arts. Itachi let loose a handful of shuriken, which Naruto blocked with a wall of water. Itachi continued sending shuriken and kunai at him, which he blocked as well, and charged the blonde with Onimaru at the ready.

Naruto summoned three kage bushin which ran forward to defend the original while he finished the seal.

Itachi summoned three kage bushin of his own, which swiftly engaged the Naruto clones. Itachi leapt over the Naruto clones that were defending their boss and closed in on the Namikaze prodigy. Itachi held Onimaru, poised to strike, before he saw Naruto make a Ram seal with his hands.

Naruto's eyes shot open, making direct eye contact with Itachi's visible sharingan.

"What the hell?" Itachi thought as he immediately recognized his own genjutsu. He sent a pulse of chakra through his system to release the genjutsu, only to find a rasengan thrust into his stomach.

Itachi shot backwards, parting the water in his wake, until he slammed into the arena wall. Itachi coughed up a mouthful of blood before slowly making his way back to his feet. ' _What just happened?'_ He thought before Naruto was on him once more.

The two engaged in a fierce kenjutsu match once more, only this time Naruto's eyes were wide open. Itachi came to the conclusion that whatever had happened with his genjutsu was a result of whatever seal Naruto had drawn on his chest. Itachi wasn't wildly knowledgeable about fuinjutsu, but he knew enough to tread very lightly when it came to that particular skill set.

The rasengan had done a number on Itachi; the more he moved the more his abdomen hurt. It was doable, but the pain was an effective distraction. ' _The longer this battle goes the worse off I'll be,'_ Itachi thought. ' _If only I could fucking hit him!'_ Itachi didn't strike many as the competitive type, and normally he wasn't, but his normal relaxed attitude towards competition did not extend to his best friend and rival; and this competitive side was starting to eat away at his patience.

Unlike Itachi, who was getting slower and slower as the fight dragged on, Naruto was getting faster and hitting harder as his wound progressively healed. That being said, Naruto knew better than to try and wait it out. The longer Itachi stayed in the fight the more opportunities he would have to come back and win. It was times like these in many of their previous spars that Itachi would somehow gain the upper hand and win. Naruto would never say it to his face, but he rather admired the tenacity of his friend.

Naruto sensed Itachi building up fire chakra, and in return started to build up water chakra, but instead of using a katon ninjutsu like he expected Itachi channeled the chakra into Onimaru.

"Fuck," Naruto groaned as a flaming Onimaru clashed with his wind covered Odenta. The flames from the sword erupted into a large inferno, burning the hands and faces of both Naruto and Itachi. It would have been something straight out of Naruto's playbook if he could use katon: go for a 1 for 1 trade and get the better end of the stick.

And get the better end of the stick he did as the wind coating Naruto's blade went ablaze, dealing the brunt of the damage to the blonde. Itachi came at Naruto, flaming sword in hand, intent on making the final blow.

It was painful for Naruto to move. Although the burns weren't too bad, 1st and minor 2nd degree, his quick healing ability was getting stretched thin. Naruto leapt back, performing hand seals, and blew a large gust of wind directly at Itachi. Itachi's flaming sword lit up, resulting in burns of similar severity to Naruto's.

Itachi ran through the flames, "Moeru ken! (Flaming Fist)" Itachi's right hand sparked ablaze and he ran towards Naruto, ready for this to be the final blow.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted as he ran to meet his best friend and end the fight.

Both boy's thrusted their hands forward, jutsu's meeting in the middle. The Rasengan collided with the flames, adding to its intensity, and the fire exploded outward into a giant swirling mass of flames.

When the fireball receded the crowd was paralyzed into an apprehensive silence. Floating on the surface of the water, badly burned, and bald for the first time in their lives, both Naruto and Itachi laid.

In one last display of pure willpower both genin rolled over to their front and with great effort heaved themselves onto their hands and knees. They both looked up and made eye contact with the other.

"You... look... terrible..." Itachi coughed out. Everything hurt.

"I guess... this is what... Kabuto means when... he says we take things too far..." Naruto struggled to cough out his response. His voice was dry and raspy.

"It's not... over yet..." Itachi said, clambering up to one knee.

Naruto let out a pained chuckle, "It's never over... Not between us..." digging for every ounce of willpower he had, Naruto pulled himself to his feet.

Itachi followed suit, and they both drew a single kunai from their weapons pouch. Their swords had been sent flying from the blast.

Itachi's sharingan was now inactive, he didn't have the strength to keep it on. Naruto, for the first time in his life, was too exhausted to use his sensory jutsu which was always on. Even Naruto's enhanced healing, which had been working overtime, had slowed to all but a complete halt. How either of them were standing was beyond comprehension.

They slowly stumbled towards each other and began engaging in a slow, sloppy knife fight. The quiet clang of metal on metal filled the silent stadium. Nobody had ever seen two shinobi go at it like this. Both seemed to be at death's doorstep, in a match which no longer held any true significance, both boy's had shown far more than what was expected of a chunin and had nothing else to prove.

Obito knew why they continued though. Their rivalry went beyond reasonable understanding. It wasn't just a way for the two to prove who was better. This was how the two showed their brotherly love for one another. Sure they were friends, and they acted like it, but this went further than friendship. It was an unspoken agreement between them: if one of them didn't give it absolutely everything they had it would be akin to saying you're not worth it. Not many people could understand the depth of that sentiment.

Both Naruto and Itachi collapsed to their knees, heads resting on the others shoulder. Neither had the strength to hold their kunai any longer. Naruto placed his hand on Itachi's shoulder and weakly shoved him. Itachi fell on his back and pushed Naruto back with his leg. They slowly clambered back up to their knees where they both threw a punch, simultaneously hitting the other's jaw; the punches were so weak neither of them even so much as moved their head.

' _Why won't he just go down already?'_ they both thought, though they each knew the answer.

A let the fight continue, despite the fact that they were both far past their ability to continue. One didn't call something like this to an end. Nobody who knew what this meant to them anyways. It wasn't about pride, it wasn't about the desire to win, it was about their friendship and what they meant to each other. It was one thing to never back down to an enemy, that was the easy part, but to never back down to a friend was far more difficult.

Naruto lunged on top of Itachi, tackling him into the mud. The two rolled in the shallow puddles and mud, the water had mostly dried out courtesy of the fireball. The two soon stopped rolling as they fought away the blackness that was quickly catching up to them.

They both attempted to crawl to their knees once more, falling and trying again over and over until one of them finally face planted into the soft mud and allowed unconsciousness to overtake them.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in the kage box)**_

All the Kage shared a feeling of admiration for the two Konoha genin who kept at it long after any reasonable person would have quit.

Sat quiet, removing their hats as a sign of respect for the two prodigies. Even Onoki, reluctantly at first, made the gesture.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in Konoha)**_

"Kaa-chan... why is Naruto-oniichan and Itachi-kun still fighting?" Asked Ashina quietly. The packed stadium in Konoha was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, so everyone within a 20 foot radius could hear.

"Because," Kakashi said from the row behind them, "they're rivals."

"That is such a youthful analysis," said Maito Guy, "I could not have said it more youthfully myself. I would expect nothing less from my eternal rival."

' _How the hell did they end up in the row behind us?'_ Deadpanned Rin.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Kumo arena)**_

A could not tell which one had fallen first. They were both so badly beaten up that they were nearly indistinguishable from one another. The medical nin had rushed onto the field to gourney them away.

"Wait!" Ordered A, who walked over to the boy who had collapsed last and gently opened his eyelid. "The winner of this match and the champion of this chunin exam," A bellowed, "is Namikaze Naruto of Konoha!"

The crowd slowly began clapping until the arena was once again filled with thunderous cheers and applause. This would be an exam the entire elemental nations would be talking about for a generation.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Kumo hospital, 2 days later)**_

Itachi's eyes slowly fluttered open. He let out a tired groan, he had never felt so sore in his life. He slowly sat up in his hospital bed and massaged his eyes as the last memories before he blacked out came back to him. He lifted his head and looked around the room. In the bed next to him was the reason for all his aches and pains. The currently bald Namikaze laid asleep with a stupid grin on his face muttering, "more Ayame, that's hot, yeah, just like that, just the way I like it." Itachi smiled, his best friend was obviously dreaming about ramen again. He looked around and found that the entire Konoha party was present. All sleeping in awkward positions in the hospital room.

Itachi looked up at the clock to see it was 0200, but he had no idea what day it was.

"You're finally up." Obito said quietly.

"Yeah," Itachi croaked through chapped lips, his throat was parched.

Obito handed him a bottle of water which Itachi guzzled down in seconds. "So... what happened?" Itachi asked his uncle and sensei.

"You two put on quite the show. Everyone's talking about it. You two are practically celebrities," Obito said.

"You know what I mean."

Obito looked at his nephew in understanding, "you lost." He said simply. "In an actual battle you both would have died, but as far as the tournament goes, you went down first."

Itachi looked down in disappointment. "You know winning and losing doesn't seem that important, but..." Itachi trailed off thinking of the best way to put how he felt.

"That's what it's like losing to your rival. Trust me. I've lost to mine more times than I can count." Obito offered.

"You must not have lost that many times then," Itachi joked.

"Watch it brat. I may be a nice guy, but I'm not above hitting a kid in a hospital bed."

"Heh, sorry."

"But like I was saying: losing to your rival isn't like a normal loss. With a rival it's not about winning and losing, not really, it's about pushing each other and struggling to overcome them. Naruto will always be that bar you hold yourself to, and what you're feeling is that bar being raised. You both have a long road ahead of you and, if you're lucky, this won't be the last time you face each other." Obito offered his nephew a sincere smile. "Now get some rest, we head back to Konoha tomorrow afternoon." Itachi nodded and closed his eyes, "oh, by the way, that Yugito girl came by and left this for you." Obito placed a folded piece of lavender paper on Itachi's chest.

XXX END CHAPTER 20 XXX

Finally, the chunin exams are over and we can get to that long awaited time skip! If you're still here thanks for pushing through the dreaded chunin exam arc with me. It's such an annoying part of every fanfic but it is an integral right of passage for any high level shinobi so you almost have to deal with it.

I seriously considered having Itachi win again, but I ultimately decided to give this one to Naruto. In the end it turned out well and gave me the opportunity to give Itachi some much needed character development.

How do you like the dynamic between Naruto and Itachi so far? I tried to keep the rivalry dynamic similar to what Naruto and Sasuke had in cannon (to some extent) but I made Itachi less of an ass hole than Sasuke ever was at his best.

Oh, the seal Naruto made! It was a pretty simple idea he had in the middle of the fight: the first seal sensed when the victim was under the influence of a genjutsu and would activate the second seal that would mirror the effects of a genjutsu back onto the caster.

Anyways, please let me know if you have any constructive criticism. If you catch anything I fucked up too bad let me know and I will try to fix it A$AP rocky.


	21. Chapter 21: Family matters

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 21: Family matters

 _ **(Konoha, summer 5 years after Kumo chunin exams)**_

All was well in Konoha these days, considering it was a shinobi village anyways. Other than regular mission requests coming in there wasn't much to speak of. The Yondaime Hokage sat in his office going through some mission reports. Nothing was out of the ordinary, except for some increased activity from Otogakure. Their secretive neighbors to the north have been more and more active over the past several years, so much so that Konoha was beginning to lose some of their smaller contracts with the neighboring countries. Minato was curious about the little village and the reclusive 'Otokage' but he didn't think too far into it.

There was a knock at the door, "Come in," Minato looked up from his stack of papers to find a 13 year old blonde haired blue eyed jounin walk in. "Hello Naruto, how'd the mission go?" Naruto now stood at 5'4", his mother's height, he wore a black jacket, similar to the one he had worn for the chunin exam, underneath his Konoha flak jacket, and some clay colored cargo pants.

The eldest Namikaze, now with a small scar under his left eye gave a satisfied grin, "the team did great Hokage-sama! We delivered the forbidden scroll to the temple and rescued the princess from the evil sorcerer!"

"Naruto, you were leading border patrol." Minato said flatly.

"And that brings me to my next point! When am I going to get some cool S-rank missions fit for 'Konoha's Caped Crusader'?" Naruto held up his hands as if he were gesturing to a lit up sign above his head.

"Nobody calls you that." Minato responded, "and you don't even wear a cape."

"Which brings me to my next point!" Naruto continued, "when am I going to get a cool nickname like, Kakashi: the copy ninja, or the Yellow Flash, or Jiraiya the Toad Sage. Hell even Itachi has a nickname now! Itachi: the Red Eyed Crow!" Naruto accentuated each nickname with a different descriptive gesture.

Minato struggled to maintain his bearing, "don't forget about the Red Hot Habanero."

"Lame. But as I was saying, nicknames have to start somewhere. So I figure I can throw a couple of cool ones out there and hopefully one of them sticks!" Naruto said with a smile indicating his satisfaction with the idea.

"Why don't we just call you 'Naruto: Idiot of the Leaf'? I feel like that one would stick," said Itachi walking in with a good natured smile. Itachi was only slightly taller than Naruto and a wore similar looking outfit, only with grey cargo pants instead of clay brown.

"Yeah! Something cool like tha - HEY!"

"Naruto, you have to earn your nickname. Give it time and it'll come." Minato assured his son.

"It might help if you didn't blow up every person you fight." Itachi offered.

"I mean... I don't go in with the intention of blowing them up..." Naruto said with an owlish look, "I just have all these explosive tags and they always somehow end up on the bad guy."

"Why not just make less explosive tags?" asked Minato, sure he was going to enjoy his sons reasoning.

"What am I supposed to do? Not bring enough explosives for whatever job we might encounter? What if my team needs me to blow stuff up? Then what?"

"Naruto, when have we _ever_ asked you to blow anything up?" Itachi asked.

"There was that one time in -"

"- I know what you're going to say, and no. Nobody asked you to do anything. In fact, I explicitly remember saying 'Naruto, do not blow anything up.' and what happened? You blew up _everything_." Itachi said becoming annoyed from the residual effects the memory still had on him.

"We completed the mission..." Naruto said sheepishly.

"That mission was a disaster! We were hired to protect a farmer and his cattle as he herded them to Kusa no Kuni, we were in a canyon, we found a boulder in our way, and you said 'it's cool guys, I got this.' then next thing we know we're running for our lives as the entire canyon comes down on top of us." Itachi said. He was still pretty irked about that incident.

"Okay fine... I'll blow up less people," Naruto said in a depressed voice.

"Okay," Minato said between laughs, Naruto and Itachi did not disappoint on that one; Minato needed a good laugh and those two were almost always good for one. "Back to business. How was border patrol?"

"Nothing to report Hokage-sama, aside from normal bandit activity everything is normal," Itachi said before Naruto could take them off on another tangent.

"Good, go ahead and head home you two. I want a mission report on my desk by tomorrow." Minato looked at the stack on his desk and regretted that order, but paperwork was an essential part of running a village, there was no way around it.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(outside the Hokage tower)**_

"I'm going to head over to Ayame's place, I got her something cool~~." Naruto sang.

"You go ahead, I don't want to interfere with your 'Ayame time.'" Itachi responded.

"Yeah, you're just mad because your girlfriend's all the way in Kumo," Naruto said, sticking his tongue out at his best friend.

"I swear, you regress in maturity with every rank," Itachi groaned. "And leave Yugito out of this."

"You started it by bringing up Ayame," Naruto stated.

" _You_ brought up Ayame! Besides, my girlfriend can beat up your girlfriend." Itachi goaded.

"Yeah well my girlfriend's boyfriend can kick your girlfriend's boyfriend's ass any day of the week!" Naruto and Itachi got up in each other's faces. They had gone for a record 2 months since their last spar and tensions were running high. Their spars were becoming more and more destructive, and Minato had ruled that they were no longer allowed to use the public training grounds to spar. The Uchiha clan came out with a similar rule not long after. They were now only allowed to spar several miles outside the village once every six months.

"Kaa-chan, are those two boys going to kiss?" a little girl passing the two asked her mother, who swiftly scooped up her daughter and walked away.

"It's not polite to stare honey." the mother told her daughter quietly.

The two Konoha jounin, oblivious to the little girl and her mother, had their foreheads pressed against each other as electricity sparked between their eyes and their heads pushed back and forth.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(at Ayame's house)**_

Naruto, admittedly, had been surprised to find out that Ayame and her family did not in fact live at the Ichiraku Ramen stand the first time he had been invited over. They lived in a modest home on the southwest side of the village where most of the civilian families lived.

Walking down the streets to Ayame's home Naruto was greeted by nearly everyone he saw. A pink haired girl he didn't recognize that looked to be around Mito and Ashina's age had gone so far as to run all the way from a park he had passed a block away to run up and greet the 13 year old jounin.

' _I hope she doesn't end up fawning over some poor academy student like that.'_

Over in the Uchiha compound Sasuke was overcome with a long series of violent sneezes. "Are you alright Sasuke?" Itachi asked his younger brother with some concern, "ACHOO!" was his only reply.

Naruto knocked on the door to Ayame's house and after a few seconds her younger sister answered the door. "What do you want, Naruto-baka?"

Naruto's eye twitched, "obviously I'm here to see Ayame. There's no way I'd bother to come all this way to talk to _you_." ' _bitch.'_ Naruto and Alya had never gotten along. Naruto had no idea why, she and Ayame would look almost identical if it weren't for the fact that they styled their hair differently; Ayame tied her hair back with a white bandana, which now also sported her Konoha head protector, and brushed her bangs to one side, while Alya wore her hair in a single ponytail and had her bangs styled to frame her face. Other than that the only thing that really differentiated them was a one year age difference, that Ayame was the world's best ramen chef, in Naruto's humble opinion, and was arguably the kindest girl Naruto had ever met. Whereas her sister couldn't cook for shit and was a grade A bitch.

"She doesn't like you, go away," Alya slammed the door shut and Naruto heard Ayame's voice faintly from behind the door. "It was nobody, just some idiot loser who got lost." Alya replied loud enough for Naruto to hear.

He knocked once again. Alya cracked the door open an inch. "Ayame! It's me, Naruto!"

Alya rolled her eyes, ' _what does Ayame see in this idiot?"_ she opened the door wider and let Naruto inside.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her, which she responded with a middle finger. Naruto walked across the living room to greet Ayame, who gave him a hug and a kiss on his cheek. "How was border patrol?" She asked.

"Lame. I just want to go on some cool missions already, I haven't had an A-rank in almost a year. Tou-san says there are hardly any A-ranks to go around so Itachi and I are stuck doing B and C-ranks." Naruto said disappointedly.

Ayame got a concerned look on her face, "I know it bugs you but you'll get your chance to go on A-rank missions soon." She didn't revel in the idea that Naruto was so eager to put himself in danger.

"Yeah... that's what my Tou-san said." Naruto paused for a minute. "Hey, I got you something really cool while I was gone!"

Ayame adopted a different uneasy look. Knowing Naruto it was always a coin toss whether or not it was cool or something scary. If it was the later there was no way she could fake excitement, he could see right through her, or sense rather.

"Don't look so worried, it's not like last time I swear." Last time Naruto got her something 'cool' he had had her close her eyes and presented her with a huge centipede encased in amber and Ayame damn near had a heart attack. "Look, I won't make you close your eyes this time."

"Can you just tell me what it is before you give it to me?" Ayame asked hopefully.

"Where's the fun in that? Where's the theatrics? Ayame, where's the emotion?"

"Fine," she sighed, "but I swear to god, if it's another bug I'm breaking up with you."

"You should just break up with him anyways!" Alya called from the other room.

"Will you leave us alone for once in your life!?" Naruto retorted.

"Ayame told me what you two do when you're 'alone' and I'm not going to be an aunt to _your_ brat!" She said back.

Naruto looked at Ayame accusingly. They hadn't done anything sexual, but for Ayame to betray his trust like that was akin to stealing his ramen.

Ayame smiled back innocently, "What? She's my sister, of course we talk!" she argued in her defense, "besides, I'm sure you talk to Itachi about the stuff we do."

"WHAT? No way! Gross! Why would I talk about that stuff with him?" Naruto's face began to turn slightly green at the idea of telling his best friend about any of that stuff.

"He's your best friend! You're telling me you guys don't 'talk'?" Ayame was confused that the two who were so close didn't talk about anything physical.

"Uh, hell no!"

"Huh... so wud ya get me?" she asked in the cutest way possible, eager to change the subject. She was lucky Naruto was such an airhead, otherwise that wouldn't have worked at all.

"Oh!" Naruto pulled up his sleeve revealing his trusty storage seal. With a puff of smoke he revealed a long, ornate staff with a blade on the end. "It's a Naginata!" He proclaimed with a wide toothy smile.

"I can see that." she took the long weapon from his hand and inspected it. It was lightweight for how large it was. The staff appeared to be made of a very sturdy wood, and the blade was very clearly chakra metal. The wood was a rich dark brown; it felt smooth and comfortable in her hands. There were strange markings on the staff and carved into the blade she assumed were seals. "What are these seals for?"

"That's the best part!" except for the mokuton wood he had provided for the staff to be made that is, "that one makes it so only you can use it, it will only react to your chakra signature so if anyone handles it with the intent to use it the Naginata will immediately paralyze them for 2 minutes." Naruto said pointing to the seal furthest to the base of the staff. "This one will sense if you're placed under a genjutsu if you're holding it and will send out a burst of chakra to release you from it," he pointed to the next one up. "This one is a chakra storage seal, you can store as much as my chakra reserves in there and use it later if you need to; I filled it up for you already. And this is the _really cool part_! You see these 5 seals up here?" he pointed at the 5 seals closest to the blade, "those are _elemental nature transformation seals!_ You just channel your chakra into it and you'll be able to manipulate the chakra in the blade into any nature! And it's connected to the chakra storage seal so you don't even have to use your own reserves to do it if you don't want to. And this one up on the blade... That's just your name!"

Ayame dropped the weapon and draped her arms around his neck engulfing him in a deep embrace. This was by far the best gift she'd ever seen, let alone received; and Naruto had put so much work into it, if his excitement was anything to go by. Damned if she didn't know the first thing about using a Naginata, she'd learn for the sole purpose of using the beautiful weapon.

Naruto wrapped his arms around Ayame's waist. ' _She's getting curvier,'_ he thought happily. He reached down with his hand to grope her ass.

"Ahem." They two jumped several feet apart as Teuchi walked into the living room. The man had told his eldest daughter no dating until she was 15, but he hadn't expected her to follow that rule, especially considering she had been in love with the Namikaze boy since she was 6. "Look, I don't mind you two dating, but doing... that, and under my roof no less, is unacceptable." He said sternly.

"That's what I told them Tou-chan!" Alya called from the other room.

Both Naruto and Ayame scowled at the traitor.

"Now," Teuchi said in a much softer tone, "tell me about this," referring to the Naginata, "then I'll kick you out of my house."

Naruto gulped before explaining to his girlfriend's father all the details of the weapon.

Teuchi was impressed; the boy had gone through a great degree of trouble to get the Naginata for Ayame. "Now Naruto. Get out."

"Hai Teuchi-san!" Naruto turned on the ball of his feet and high tailed it out of there.

Alya walked into the living room to catch a glimpse at the unique weapon everyone was fussing about. To say she was impressed was an understatement. "To think that baka can get two things right."

"What's the first thing?" Ayame asked as her sister turned and walked away.

"Why picking you of course," Alya said turning her head and giving her older sister a sweet smile. "I still hate him though."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Namikaze residence)**_

"I'm home!" Naruto called out. He could sense the erratic chakra signature and hear the little feet scurry to the door. A tiny red blur shot straight at him, nearly tackling him to the ground.

"Naru-chan!" Ume buried her face in his neck as he picked her up. If Naruto looked like a Minato clone then Ume looked like an exact copy of their mother. "You smell like Ayame-onee-chan Naru-nii."

"Hehehe," Naruto awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "I mean I just saw her so that's probably it."

"Oh yeah, and what were you doing when you 'saw' her?" Mito asked from the living room where she and Ashina were sitting around the board game they had been playing with Ume.

"I gave her the coolest damn present anyone has ever received!"

"Why don't you ever get us anything?" Ashina complained, "you're always getting stuff for Ayame but you never bring us anything cool."

"What do you mean? I got you that amber covered centipede just a few weeks ago!" Naruto retorted.

"That was creepy, Nii-chan." Mito said flatly.

"Yeah! Plus you pawned it off to us after Ayame freaked out about it!" Ashina exclaimed.

"Damn! Does that girl tell everyone everything?" Naruto groaned. "How about this, I'll teach you all a super cool jutsu."

The three Namikaze siblings shared a look before looking back up to their eldest sibling and nodded.

"Okay. To the back yard!" he pointed in an exaggerated manner to the back of the house.

"NO RUNNING IN THE HOUSE!" Kushina yelled as her four children scampered through the kitchen to the back yard. Although Naruto had forgiven her and Minato for their years of mistreatment, there was still an unspoken distance between Naruto and his parents. He acted amicable enough with them, but he never went to them for anything. When anything was troubling the blonde teenager he would go to Hiruzen, Tsunade, Shizune, Rin, Obito, Itachi or Ayame. When he needed help with something he would do the same. If he just felt like hanging out he would go to anyone but his parents. On the surface their relationship appeared to be solid, but it all felt like an act to Kushina. Her only consolation was that her eldest had developed such a close relationship with her other children.

"All right you little tomato's, this is called the -"

"Naruto-san, the Hokage needs you in his office right away. Itachi-san and Kabuto-san are already on their way there." A masked ANBU said from the roof of the house.

"I know it's you Kakashi-senpai. You don't have to call me Naruto- _san_." Naruto said, annoyed at his lesson being interrupted. If there was one thing he loved other than ramen, training, his friends and village, it was training his siblings. Naruto had even asked if he could be Mito and Ashina's jounin commander when the time came, but Minato quickly shot that down saying that the position of jounin instructor required a senior jounin with a high level of maturity.

"Either way, Minato-sensei needs you." Kakashi said in his regular lazy voice.

"Awwww," Mito, Ashina, and Ume all moaned. They were excited to learn a new jutsu, and their brother had been gone for two weeks. Naruto's mission tempo kept him away from home a lot, and any time they got with him was the highlight of that month.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry tomato's, but I have to go. Keep training and I'll teach you something cool when I get back." Naruto said, one by one ruffling their hair.

"I don't get why you call me tomato too. My hair's almost as blonde as you and Tou-chan's." Ashina complained.

Naruto thought on it for a second, "well I could call you unripe tomato, or golden tomato... nah, those are both mouthfuls. Besides, you've got more red hair than me so that still makes you a ginger in my book."

Ashina crossed his arms and huffed, "why do you always have to pick on me?"

"Would you rather me ignore you?" Naruto asked seriously. None of his siblings knew how he had been ignored as a child, and honestly it bugged Naruto to see any of them get annoyed by the attention they were given.

"Good! Cus I love you three too much to ever ignore you!" Naruto summoned two clones and began tickling the three youngest Namikaze's.

Kushina was standing at the door watching Naruto tease her other kids and had heard that last remark. She knew Naruto could sense her and as a result he knew that she would hear what he said. It was little things like that which truly kept a distance between them. Little things that most people wouldn't catch, but were impossible for those involved to miss.

Naruto dispelled his clones after he had taken the last one to the ground in a fit of laughter and leapt away to the Hokage tower.

"Bye Nii-san!" All three kids waved as they watched the jounin take to the rooftops.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(5 minutes later, Hokage Office)**_

Naruto was the last one to enter. He would have beaten Itachi, who lived much further away, but Minato had forbidden him from using the window to enter his office the way Jiraiya was known to do.

"Now that we're all here, let's begin." Minato handed out three scrolls with the mission details on them. "The Kiri rebellion has requested aid from the rest of the 5 great nations to help them overthrow the current Mizukage and bring an end to the village of the bloody mist." The three youngest jounin in the village stood still, quietly listening. "Normally we would not bother with such a request, but considering the current political atmosphere, I believe it would be beneficial to bring the bloody mist down. With an alliance between four of the five great nations we may be able to truly find peace."

"So we're the only one's going?" Asked Itachi, the thought that a single team of 3 unproven jounin would make that much of an impact against an entire hidden village was laughable.

"Unfortunately three is all we can afford to send. I believe that this team, with their excellent track record, is the perfect fit for such a mission." Minato said.

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, why are you sending me?" Kabuto asked. He hadn't worked with the other two in nearly 2 years since his move to the Medical corps's research and development division. It wasn't a surprise to anyone that Kabuto moved to the medical corps, and he had quickly become one of the villages most promising medical nin, so much so that he was assigned to work in R&D to develop new medicines and healing techniques. Lately he had taken an interest in the study of kekkei genkai, secretly focusing on mokuton.

"Not only are you one of Konoha's top medical specialists, that on its own warrants your placement on this team, but you had shown promise in espionage during your tenure as a chunin . On top of that, you have worked with these two before, and from what Obito has told me, you can keep them under control to some extent.

"Yes! The old team back together again! And off to save a country from a genocidal maniac!" Naruto couldn't contain his excitement, this was the mission he had been waiting for, it was his chance to prove his mettle and earn his proverbial stripes as a jounin.

"I don't know how long you three will be gone for, my guess would be six months to a year. You have one week to gather whatever supplies you may need and say whatever goodbyes you have to say. Once you leave here you will be reporting to Terumi Mei, the leader of the Kiri rebellion. The details are in those scrolls. Are there any questions?" The three were silent, "very well. Go get ready and say your goodbye's, you will meet at the East gate at 0500 next Wednesday."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!"

XXX END CHAPTER 21 XXX

Not a super exciting chapter. I just wanted to show how things are going for Naruto since the timeskip. He's obviously annoyed with the lack of excitement in his life, as many people his age can relate too. He still goes on missions regularly, but he had hoped for more difficult missions once he reached the rank of jounin. He feels as if, since this is as high ranking as he intends on becoming, this is what the rest of his life is going to be like.

Naruto and Ayame are dating but since they're still young they haven't gone any further than second base (god I love sports references), not that Naruto minds. They both care for each other, but you'll see that Ayame has a feeling of inadequacy due to Naruto being a jounin at 13 and she's a middle of the pack genin. It's going to push her to get stronger, but unfortunately she's doomed to remain an average kunoichi. This won't be Naruto's final pairing, as I said before it will be more like real life where most of us don't meet the person we marry when we're 6.

Naruto's relationship with his family is... complicated. Everything appears fine and Naruto doesn't intentionally alienate Kushina or Minato, he just has his surrogate family that serve as his go to for everything. Minato has the advantage of being Naruto's boss so he gets much more face time with his son than Kushina does, so he really doesn't notice the distance as much. Kushina feels like she is at fault for everything but the relationship will get much better over time.

Naruto and his siblings all get along very well. Naruto is the model older brother, but he gets annoyed when any of the three show any kind of spoiled brat like tendencies. Expect for the story to follow the three youngest Namikaze's as well.

And finally Kabuto. He intentionally left team 5 following the chunin exams when he realized he couldn't hide his secret from Itachi or Naruto for much longer. The curse mark is taking its toll on his psyche. Kabuto's story will be an interesting one for sure. Will he be like Sasuke or will he overcome it and have the seal suppressed/removed?


	22. Chapter 22: Blood and Mist

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 22: Blood and mist

"Will you be back for my first day at the academy?" Ume asked. She would start her shinobi training in just over a year.

"I don't know little plum," Naruto said to his little sister. Ashina had brought up a good point regarding their nicknames, so Naruto had given each of them their own and now only the collective group of three were known as tomatoes.

"What about my birthday?" Ume asked.

"I don't think so," Naruto knelt down to her level as her eyes began to well up with tears. "Tou-san says this is going to be a long mission so I don't know exactly how long I'll be gone for." Ume looked at the ground as tears began to flow down her face.

"I don't want you to go..." Ume said in a surprisingly even voice. "You were going to train me to be strong like you..."

"When I get back I'll train you to be the strongest kunoichi of all time!" Naruto said, tilting her chin up so he could look into her violet eyes. "You can train with Jiji and Tsunade-baa until then," Naruto kissed his youngest sister on the forehead which calmed her down slightly. "I'll be back before you know it and you can show me how strong you got." Naruto was excited for his mission, but he hated that he had to leave Ume. He loved all of his siblings dearly but those two had always been especially close.

"Will you write me?" Ume asked quietly, choking down sobs.

"Every chance I get!" Naruto assured her, "I need you to be strong and take care of everyone while I'm gone, okay?" She nodded, "make sure you listen to Kaa-san and Tou-san, and don't let Mito and Ashina pick on you too much." she nodded again. Naruto looked at his little sister, "hold out your hand." She looked at him questioningly but did as she was told. Naruto unsealed his calligraphy brush and started to draw symbols on the back of her hand.

Ume looked on with wonder in her eyes as her hero drew what appeared to be a complex seal on her pale skin. "What is it?"

"Hold on," Naruto said as he finished the final details. "Done! Now, what do you feel?"

"It feels... warm..." Ume said looking at the diamond shaped seal on her hand.

"Good, that means it's working." Naruto smiled as he took off his glove and drew a similar seal on his hand. "Now put a little bit of your chakra in my seal." Ume had better chakra control than any of the Namikaze children at her age, so learning to channel chakra was a breeze for her. She put her small delicate hand on top of Naruto's and Naruto began to feel the same warm sensation. "What your feeling is my chakra. The seal will sense when you're feeling sad or if you miss me and it will release a little bit of my chakra in the form of heat," Naruto explained. "The seal on my hand will do the same thing, but with your chakra. That way we never have to be sad alone. We'll always have a little piece of each other."

Ume jumped on her big brother and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, "thank you Nii-chan!" She said as she squeezed him tightly.

Naruto, who already had all his things sealed away into his wrist, stood up, still holding Ume, and walked downstairs. It was early but the house was already awake, ready to send Naruto off properly.

Mito, Ashina, and Kushina all wore somber expressions, while Minato looked at his son with pride. The sight of his oldest son carrying his distraught youngest daughter down the stairs was heart warming to the Namikaze patriarch. "What's this?" Minato asked Ume, referring to the seal on her hand. As a seal master he already knew what it was, but he thought he'd give Ume the pleasure of explaining it anyways.

"Naru-chan made a seal to make me feel better when I'm sad!" Ume said excitedly.

Kushina looked at the seal and smiled at the thoughtfulness of her eldest. Their relationship wasn't great, and she took full responsibility for that, but she loved to see how much her children loved each other.

Mito and Ashina walked forward to take a look for themselves. They were studying level one fuinjutsu so they were curious to see if they could decipher what the seal really did. They couldn't. It wasn't a very complicated seal, but the emotion sensory array was level 5 and the chakra storage and release seals were both level 3, still far beyond their skill.

"What does it really do?" asked Ashina, skeptical about a mood altering seal and the ethics behind it.

"It releases some of my chakra when Ume feels sad," Naruto explained.

"Can I get one?" Asked Mito.

"No! This is between me and Naru-chan!" Ume huffed jealously.

Naruto laughed at Ume's protectiveness of their relationship. "It's okay, I've got something special for each of you." Naruto unsealed a wakizashi from his wrist and handed it to Mito. "your first sword. I won't be able to train you with it for a while, but I'm sure Kaa-san can show you how to use it until I get back."

Kushina looked at the beautiful blade in Mito's hands. It was 18 inches, perfect length for the small aspiring kunoichi, had a white grip with red twine wrapped around tightly for added comfort and grip, and had a red sheath decorated with gold roses that stemmed from the drag, matching Mito's red hair with blonde streaks.

"It's beautiful!" Mito said in awe before resheathing it and jumping to embrace Naruto, who was still holding Ume.

"And I didn't forget about you Ashina," Naruto said before his only brother could get jealous. "You're the only other one of us who has the wind affinity," Naruto explained as he unsealed a book and handed it to Ashina.

"A book?" Ashina said, slightly disappointed before he read the title, "Typhoon style'? What is that?"

Both Minato and Kushina were equally as curious as Ashina; they'd never heard of typhoon style. It couldn't be the same thing as the extinct typhoon release kekkei genkai.

"It's a style of wind release I created." Naruto began to explain, "essentially it's an advanced wind release. It requires a ton of chakra, so I can't use it for long periods of time, but with your chakra reserves you should be able to master it better than I can."

Minato and Kushina both understood. Somehow Naruto had figured out that Mito and Ashina were meant to harness the Kyuubi chakra, and Naruto had given Ashina a weapon that only he would be able to truly master.

"That's everything I've been able to accomplish with the style so far, but I believe you'll be able to become the true typhoon style master." Naruto said with a smile.

Ashina followed the lead of his two sisters and jumped up to hug his older brother. Now with all two of them already weighing him down, the impact from Ashina successfully knocked Naruto to the ground with his siblings smothering him with love.

The Namikaze family sat at the kitchen table where they enjoyed what would be their last family breakfast in quite some time; and what would become one of their fondest family memories.

Ume sat with a smug look, being the only one who was allowed to bring her gift to the table. The kitchen was filled with laughter and smiles, but deep down they all felt a feeling of dread. Naruto was heading into a warzone and everyone knew it.

Kushina was not happy when she had heard that Minato had opted to send Naruto and his team to Kiri rather than an older, more seasoned group of jounin. Minato had explained to her that, as Hokage, he could not treat Naruto any different than any other shinobi in the village, especially now that Naruto was a jounin. Kushina was still not happy about the decision, and thought she understood his reasoning the tension between the two remained palpable. Even though her and Naruto's relationship was strained she still loved her eldest son and wasn't sure if she'd be able to forgive her husband if anything happened to Naruto on this mission.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(east gate, 0500)**_

They had all said their goodbyes and were packed and ready to go. Naruto now wore Ayame's white bandana style Hitai-ate as a sash tied around his waist with the metal plate on the front of his left hip. Ayame had given it to him as a keepsake while he was gone, and Naruto had left her his black Hitai-ate in exchange. She had also given him a long passionate kiss, which would have turned into more if Teuchi hadn't walked in and kicked Naruto out. Honestly Naruto should have sensed him coming, but when he was with Ayame she was the only thing in the world that mattered.

"We all ready?" Itachi asked. He noticed Naruto was wearing Ayame's Hitai-ate but didn't' say anything about it. The two rarely talked about their girlfriends with each other unless they had something to bitch about; which wasn't often.

Both Naruto and Kabuto nodded and the team took off to the east.

Team 5 traveled in silence for most of the first day. Naruto was stuck on the last words he had said to his parents before he left.

 _Flashback:_

"Good luck son, stay safe and make us proud." Minato said, patting his son on the shoulder.

"Don't do anything reckless and come back to us in one piece. Remember, no matter what we love you," Kushina moved in to give Naruto a hug but he shrugged her off.

His siblings had gone back to bed so it was only the three of them left. "Don't." Naruto looked at both of his parents with hard cold eyes. "You have me in your family now, but if you do to them what you did to me and mistreat them in any way while I'm gone I will never speak to you as your son again."

Naruto turned and left after seeing the shocked expressions on his partent's faces.

 _End flashback._

It wasn't an idle threat. It was a warning to them. Naruto had told him what had been weighing on his heart for so long. He had forgiven them to some extent, he understood that they hadn't intentionally neglected him, but he couldn't forgive them fully in such a short amount of time. Even after his father had come to apologize in Kumo Naruto had intended on leaving home anyways, but his relationship with his siblings had become so strong that he decided to stay for their sake. ' _Why did I tell them?'_ he had had 5 years to tell them that he was only there for his brother and sisters but he hadn't because he wanted to maintain that amicable relationship. ' _Did I just want to hurt them?'_

"What's that look all about?" Itachi asked. He knew Naruto well enough to be able to tell when something was troubling him.

"Just thinking about earlier this morning."

Itachi nodded and dropped the subject; Naruto would tell him about it later when he put his thoughts in order. "So, how have you been Kabuto? We haven't worked together in a while. How is the medical corps treating you?"

"It's been good. I haven't been able to treat many people lately, but my time in research has been interesting." Kabuto replied cryptically.

"Nothing you can tell us I suppose," Itachi said with an easy smile.

"Just that I've been researching kekkei genkai," Itachi and Naruto both looked at him with interest, "but as you said, nothing much I can tell you about it."

Naruto did a quick check of their surroundings, "have you found out anything about how I could have gotten my mokuton?"

Kabuto sighed, "as far as I know Senju Hashirama is the only person to ever posses the mokuton naturally, making it one of the rarest kekkei genkai of all time, so I don't know if it was passed on to you in some way, or if it's some kind of fluke that both of you happened to unlock it. It seems too good to be true for it to be a fluke though."

"What do you mean 'too good to be true'?" Naruto questioned.

"If it is something that happens at random and isn't truly a bloodline, then how is it that in the entire world both known natural users happen to be from the same village?" Kabuto explained. "If it is truly a Senju bloodline then why is it that Hashirama is the only known member to be able to use it? And how are you able to use it when you're not a Senju?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment. "The Uzumaki and the Senju are distant relatives, aren't they? And my father is an orphan so maybe he could have some Senju blood in him."

"That's where it gets interesting." Kabuto said, knowing that he had already said too much about his research, "the Yondaime and the Nidaime fighting styles are too similar to overlook. The two of them are the only two to ever master the Hiraishin, and both are considered to be some of the best jutsu creators of their time. So it is possible that the Yondaime has some unknown connection to the Senju clan."

Naruto pondered this for a while. He had always wondered why he was able to use mokuton, but not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth he hadn't put too much stock into it.

"I'm afraid I don't know anything more than that Naruto-san, but if I learn anything else I will tell you." Kabuto said with his trademark smile. ' _Hopefully that will be enough to keep him off of me for a while.'_ One of the major reasons Kabuto had left team 5 in the first place was because Naruto and Itachi were too suspicious of his strange behavior as a result of the curse mark.

"Thank you Kabuto." Naruto became quiet once more as the three continued to leap through the trees on the way to Kiri.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in Kiri)**_

"Go inform the Mizukage that our plans with the Rokubi are to be put on hold for the time being. He may use the jinjuriki as he sees fit for the time being." A cloaked man in a mask ordered.

"And what of my test subjects?" Asked another cloaked man with long black hair and yellow eyes.

"I don't care. This war is good for our cause, I don't care what you do with the victims."

"Kukuku, as you wish _Madara_ ," Orochimaru hissed. "If I may ask, what will you be doing?"

"I will be going to Ame. If all goes well our plans will go as expected."

"And if things don't go as expected?" Orochimaru asked in his usual pandering tone.

"Then hope the information your subordinate provided us is accurate." Madara replied.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with team 5)**_

"I sense 10 chakra signatures approaching from the east." Naruto said. They'd reached the rendezvous point about an hour ago and Naruto had been on lookout since then. The mist wasn't so bad this far inland, but it still left them with an ominous feeling.

"Be ready, we don't know if their friendly or not until we hear the verbal confirmation." Itachi didn't need to make the obvious statement, but he knew how Naruto could get in times like these.

After 30 seconds of silence the mist began to thicken and Naruto could feel the chakra weaved into it. He could sense the origin of the chakra and turned to face the direction of the shinobi who had casted the jutsu.

"What are Konoha shinobi doing around here?" a voice said from all directions.

"Leaves and Mist mix better than mist and blood." Itachi responded.

"And so the guardians of the leaf and the guardians of the mist meet to rinse the blood from a war torn country." The mist cleared and revealed a muscular shirtless man standing on the hilt of a large cleaver like sword impaled in the ground. The man had bandages up to his ears and an X shaped scar on his right cheek. His arms were crossed and behind him stood 9 other swordsman with their blades sheathed.

"Biwa Juzo," Itachi greeted, "I thought you abandoned Kirigakure."

"I did. But sweet Mei-tan asked for me to return and help her in this rebellion of hers, and I'm nothing but putty in her hands." the swordsman said.

Naruto looked at the man standing before them. His shark like teeth identified him as one of the seven swordsman of the mist, and Naruto thought the red facepaint around his mouth made him look pretty cool too. "Are you sure you should be calling someone like Mei-sama so informally?" Naruto was not a fan of honorifics, but going so far as to call the leader of a great rebellion 'tan' was too much for him.

"Relax kid, I've known Mei-tan for longer than you've been alive. She's fine with it as long as we're on the same side." Juzo replied, "you probably shouldn't be so bold though. Not unless you want her to melt your balls off that is," he added with a grin.

"So you're all the reinforcements Konoha sent? You don't look like much," Another shirtless man who looked around Obito's age said. This man looked very similar to Juzo, except the lower half of his face was completely covered in bandages.

"Momochi Zabuza: the demon of the mist." Kabuto said quietly.

"Demon of the mist?" Naruto repeated with an owlish expression, "That's such a cool nickname! How'd you get a name like that?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"I killed everyone in my academy graduating class." Zabuza replied cooly.

"Wow... you're kind of a dick..." Naruto replied.

"Kinda." Zabuza shrugged.

"Zabuza is my student, I hope to give him my sword when I pass on to the next world," Juzo laughed.

"I'm not your student Juzo-san, I just agreed not to kill you and take the sword in exchange for some of your teachings," Zabuza said with an angry look in his eyes. "A fools deal in my opinion. I'm every bit as good a swordsman as you are, but a deal is a deal."

"Well we should head back then." Juzo said, adopting a serious expression, "the hunter nin don't usually head this far towards the border, but it's still best that we don't spend too much time away from our base."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Rebellion Headquarters)**_

"Good evening Mei-tan, these are the reinforcements from Konoha," Juzo said with his best attempt at a charming smile.

"Juzo... How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?" The tall beautiful woman said with a tick mark on her forehead.

Juzo backed away slowly as his previous confidence waned.

" So you're the Konoha shinobi the Yondaime sent." The woman inspected the three teenagers for a moment. "You don't seem like much."

"Now that's just hurtful," Naruto muttered. If Naruto was being honest with himself he'd say that she was hands down the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes on. She had emerald green eyes and long auburn hair that fell nearly to the floor and a top knot. Her blue dress exposed her smooth slender shoulders and would have exposed most of her breasts if it weren't for the low cut mesh armor shirt she wore underneath; the dress was cut to the hip but once again their view was blocked by yet more mesh armor. Never in his life did Naruto hate mesh armor so much.

Mei gave a small apologetic smile, "I never said that was a bad thing. I know more than most how looks can be deceiving."

"... thanks?" Naruto didn't know if it was a compliment or an insult.

"That being said, we have to measure your abilities so we can determine how to best utilize the three of you. Now tell me, what are your specialties, starting with the dumb looking blonde." Mei smiled as she got the expected reaction out of Naruto.

"Hey! I'm not dumb looking!"

"You never said you weren't dumb..." Itachi sighed, knowing that the beautiful woman was making fun of them.

"Shit... whatever! I'm Namikaze Naruto; my specialties are fuinjutsu, kenjutsu, and ninjutsu. I'm also a sensor and the most badass shinobi to ever come out of Konoha!" Naruto boasted with his trademark wide smile and thumbs up.

"You should drop the thumbs up kid, it's really not cool." Mei said, she was having fun teasing this one, ' _if only he were 10 years older,'_ she was 24 and ready for romance. "But you said one of your specialties is kenjutsu. I hope you don't mind if we test that." Naruto nodded confidently. "Very well, what about you?"

"My name is Uchiha Itachi, my specialties are ninjutsu, and genjutsu, I'm also proficient in kenjutsu and taijutsu. As you know from my clan name, I posses the sharingan."

"Interesting. An Uchiha and the Hokage's son. Both claiming to have kenjutsu skills. What about you?" Mei asked the white haired jounin.

"My name is Yakushi Kabuto; I am a Medic, and have some skill in espionage and genjutsu." He said humbly.

"So you're who Konoha decided to send? I guess the Hokage didn't want to be shown up by Kumo," said a feminine voice behind them.

Team 5 turned around to see a 15 year old Yugito Nii run forward and embrace her Uchiha boyfriend. Behind her stood Samui and Karui who both rolled their eyes.

"I didn't expect to see you three here," Naruto greeted.

"Hello Naruto-kun, Kabuto-kun. I'd greet you too Itachi but it looks like you're busy at the moment." Samui teased.

A grunt from Itachi and a purr from Yugito was their only response.

"Ahem," Mei cleared her throat to get every ones attention back. "Yugito, I know you're happy to see your boyfriend, but we have business to attend to at the moment. You two can play later."

"Come to my room later, I have something to _show_ you," Yugito whispered into Itachi's ear as she paused to nibble on his earlobe. "Just come straight in, I'll probably be stretching."

By the time the three Kumo kunoichi left Itachi's face was beat red and he had a small drop of blood trailing down from his nose.

"Ok, now that that's over, let's test your abilities."

XXX END CHAPTER 22 XXX

I don't want to say much and risk giving anything away, so... Thanks for reading!


	23. Chapter 23: Leaves in the fog

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 23: Leaves in the fog

"I will want to assess all of your individual skills, but since you two came in to Mizu no Kuni boasting about kenjutsu skills lets see what you've got. You two versus me and Zabuza, swords only. No ninjutsu, no genjutsu." Juzo said with a wicked smile.

"We weren't boasting, we just said that kenjutsu was one of our specialties." Itachi said, a swordfight between them and one of the seven swordsmen seemed unbalanced enough to begin with, even for two jounin, especially since they couldn't use any of their other skills.

"Either way, you proclaimed yourselves to be swordsmen, and as such it would be an insult to refuse a duel from another." Juzo hadn't just made that up. Even though there was no written rule book on the subject of swordsmen courtesies there was still an unwritten code that they were honor bound to follow.

Naruto and Itachi nodded and took their stance out at the training field Juzo had led them to. Naruto unsealed Odenta and Itachi unsheathed Onimaru, and the two prepared for Juzo and Zabuza to ready themselves.

Juzo held Kubikiribocho straight out in front of him while Zabuza held a large single edged greatsword of his own. Zabuza's greatsword looked interesting to Naruto, it looked like a giant shark fin shaped butchers knife. "Begin!" Juzo yelled.

Naruto and Itachi's unspoken plan was to beat them with speed. With swords that big blocking blows would be a problem for both parties, but for different reasons. Naruto and Itachi would have trouble blocking due to the sheer size of the weapons and the pure force behind each impact, while the other two would have trouble getting the sword in position to parry a blow in time.

They proved to be wrong in that assumption as the two older swordsman wielded their blades as if they were no heavier than the smaller versions of the knives they looked like. Though they were right in their assessment in that the blows were extremely hard to block, and not only because of their power, but unforeseen speed as well.

Naruto and Itachi could only keep up thanks to Itachi's sharingan and Naruto's sensory ability, but even though they could sense/see their movements before they happened they were too fast for either of the Konoha jounin to capitalize on.

Naruto did a no handed cartwheel to the left to dodge a horizontal slash from Juzo and made eye contact with Itachi. The two best friends only needed that brief moment to come up with and agree on a plan without so much as a word. They both nodded and by the time Naruto landed his cartwheel the plan was in effect.

Itachi lunged past Zabuza, who was back to back with Juzo as if he were going to strike Juzo's back, the ultimate dishonor for a swordsman, and Zabuza reacted to this by bringing his large blade down as if he were going to cleave Itachi in half. Naruto came around the outside of Itachi and parried Zabuza's slash. Juzo spun and parried Itachi's sword to the Uchiha's left.

In a moment the fight was over. Naruto had spun all the way through the parry and ended with the tip of Odenta at Juzo's neck, while Itachi had used the force from Juzo's parry and spun to bring the blade of Onimaru to the base of Zabuza's skull.

Both Juzo and Zabuza were wide eyed in disbelief. The four of them stood still until they heard the small crowd that had gathered began to applaud what they had seen. Mei walked forward as the four swordsman sheathed their swords and Naruto sealed Odenta into his wrist.

"Have you two practiced that move before?" asked Juzo, still in disbelief. He wasn't a spiteful man, but he had intended to wipe the floor with the two and asserting himself as the best swordsman in the rebellion.

"No, but Itachi and I have worked together for so long it's as if he's also my sword. Just like a sword is an extension of you, we're an extension of each other. Together nothing can take us down." Naruto said with a foxy grin.

Itachi merely nodded, looking around to make sure Yugito just saw him kick ass. He wasn't the show off type, but he was never opposed to being praised by his girlfriend.

"Well it sure shows," Mei said as she walked up to the four swordsmen, "you two defeated two superior swordsmen because you worked much better as a team. Not to say your skills aren't impressive, but you still have a ways to go before you can go head to head with one of the seven swordsman alone and live to tell about it. Juzo and Zabuza will be your teachers while you're here with us."

Both older swordsman adopted wicked grins, at least Juzo did, the only indication of any change in expression from Zabuza was a crinkle in the corners of his eyes.

"You can start that training tomorrow, for now I want to assess your other skills, and I'm sure Yugito-chan wants to spend some time with her 'Tachi-kun'." Mei teased, pinching the Uchiha's red cheeks, adding to his embarrassment.

"Aww, Tachi-kun, that's so sweet," teased Naruto, batting his eyelashes and making a kissy face.

"Shut up Naru-baka!" Itachi retorted.

"That doesn't bother me, Alya-bitch calls me that all the time," Naruto said with a grin.

"I know, I just didn't want to have to say the thing Ayame calls you when you're alone." Itachi said with a sinister grin of his own.

"You... you know about that?" Naruto's face went deathly pale. Itachi nodded, "damn! That girl tells everyone everything!" Naruto crossed his arms and began mumbling curses.

Itachi didn't really know anything, he rarely talked to Ayame about Naruto, but the empty threat was enough to shut the blonde up for now.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(later that night, headquarters office)**_

"They're young, but their skills are exceptional. I'd say that they're about middle of the pack jounin with their individual skill sets, but working together those three will be able to defeat any of us no problem." Mei assessed after looking through their test results. Their kenjutsu display had been impressive enough, especially as a show of teamwork, but she was surprised to see the proficiency in ninjutsu from Naruto and Itachi; Kabuto's ninjutsu skills were limited due to his chakra reserves, which were at about high chunin level. Again, Naruto and Itachi were the superior taijutsu users, but Kabuto redeemed himself with genjutsu, which while less powerful than Itachi's ocular genjutsu was still very high level. Where the three truly stood out was with their special skills.

" Naruto being a sensor and with his proficiency in fuinjutsu was perfect for recon teams as well as direct assault. Itachi should be kept with Naruto as much as possible, we can also use him for interrogations with that genjutsu of his. As a medic we can send Kabuto anywhere, but I think it's for the best that we keep those three together as much as possible." A blue haired man with an eyepatch said.

"I'd like to put Naruto and Itachi on different small teams early on in order to build trust among the rest of the forces. We don't want to alienate our allies. As for Kabuto, I'm sure people will trust him well enough after working in the hospital for a few weeks." Mei said as she walked over to her desk, "and make sure Yugito and Itachi are not on the same team, it's not that I don't trust them to be professional, but the last thing we need is a rampaging jinjuriki if something happens to the Uchiha."

"Understood Mei-sama," Ao walked out of the office taking Mei's dismissive tone as instructions to leave. "And please try to get some sleep tonight, you work too hard as it is without worrying about trivial matters." Ao said pausing at the door.

"The liberation of my country is hardly a trivial matter, Ao, but I appreciate your concern and will be sure to rest at some point." Mei said. She'd probably be working all night, but Ao didn't need to know about that. ' _Leading a rebellion at 24... I always thought that I'd be married by now. There's time for that after we win this war I suppose. I just hope they don't make me Mizukage, then I'll never get married.'_ Mei sneezed startling herself before shaking it off and getting to work on the paperwork on her desk. Administrative matters never stopped, not even for a rebellion; well, not a successful rebellion that is.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(2200, one week later)**_

The door to the small house opened and in walked a battered up Itachi and Naruto, or rather limped in a fucked up Itachi and Naruto. The only way they were able to move at all was with each others support. They were exhausted and in immense pain. Every muscle in their bodies ached and Naruto felt a click in his hip with every step. Itachi was sure he had broken several ribs and possibly his sternum, and both of them had a pair of black eyes, fat lips, and swollen cheeks. Their bodies were also covered in cuts and bruises.

"God, what happened to you two?" Yugito ran over and helped Itachi to the couch.

Without the support from Itachi Naruto fell to the ground with a thud, "... ow..." Naruto groaned weakly. ' _I guess I'm sleeping here tonight.'_

"Same as usual. They kick our ass in the mornings so that we can learn to fight through the pain, beat us for lunch so we can learn to fight through the pain _and_ the hunger, and beat us at night because 'why the hell not?' and between each beating we go through stances, we practice blocking attacks, spar with them, spar with each other, getting hit by them periodically so we 'don't get complacent,' and play 'kill the target'; which is usually some small animal they capture and protect while we try to kill it. The game doesn't end until we kill it..." Itachi complained as he laid on the couch resting his head on Yugito's lap, allowing her to play with his hair.

"Why is Naruto on the floor?" Samui asked as she walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She was wearing nothing but a white t-shirt and dark grey panties, exposing her long pale legs all the way up to her hip, revealing her curvaceous womanly body and hugging her large perky breasts. It was easy to see that she wasn't wearing a bra, but nobody particularly cared at the moment. Naruto and Itachi were too exhausted to have any kind of reaction to it and Yugito had already seen her teammate naked on several occasions. Samui, for one, was not one for modesty to begin with and truly could not care less who saw her in so little clothes.

"You know... just hanging out..." Naruto groaned.

"Well cut it out, you're getting blood all over the hardwood floor.

"And why are you here anyways? I know why Yugito is here, ever since they started sleeping together she's always here. Don't tell me you're sleeping with Kabuto." Naruto managed to push himself up to a seated position.

"Oh god no. We moved in." Samui sounded so bored with the explanation that Naruto had nearly missed what she said.

"You what!? When? How? Why?" Naruto coughed up a little bit of blood.

"We moved in. Today. We packed, moved, and unpacked. And because, deal with it." Yugito responded in her bored monotone voice again. "I moved into your room. You live with Kabuto now. There's still only one bed so you two have to figure out who's sleeping where. Or you can spoon, it makes no difference to me."

"Wha-? Get out of my room!" Naruto sprang to his feet and started shaking his fist at his fellow blonde.

"I'm not in your room. Kabuto is though." Samui was getting a kick out of this.

"I'm. not. Moving. Rooms." Naruto stated flatly.

Samui put her finger on her chin to feign thinking. "Well I suppose you could sleep with me. But I warn you, I roll around a lot when I sleep, and I like to be on top." Samui said with a wink and a grin.

"What? Hell no! Move out!" Naruto has seemed to all but completely recover from his wounds already and was ready to fight Samui for the rights to his bedroom.

"Naruto. We have 5 bedrooms. Yugito will be staying in mine. Samui is messing with you." Itachi said, all the yelling was giving him a headache. ' _Damn, I knew he healed fast but this is just unfair.'_

"Oh yeah." Naruto's eyes then rolled back and he fell to the ground flat on his back with a loud thump.

Samui shrugged and walked out of the living room.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Later that night)**_

Naruto woke up startled. ' _Shit! I'm late! They're going to fuck me up so bad!'_ He sprang out of bed to get ready, luckily his clothes were still on, but his knees buckled beneath him and he collapsed on the floor.

"Ow..." Naruto mumbled before looking around and realizing it was still dark out. He looked in front of him and saw a pair of bare feet inches away from his face. Naruto slowly tilted his head up, following the pair of long bare legs until he was looking directly up a white t-shirt.

"Can you get your face out of my crotch?" said a bored sounding Samui.

Naruto was several inches away from Samui's dark colored panties and has a direct view up her shirt where he could clearly see the underside of her breasts. "Ah!" Naruto yelped as he scurried backwards. "What are you doing here? Wait, what am I doing here? I fell asleep on the floor."

"More like you fainted by the front door and I had to carry you here. I just laid you down when you woke up." Samui explained.

"Aww you took care of me? That's so sweet Sami-chan." Naruto said.

"Yugito made me. I was just going to leave you there. And don't call me 'Sami-chan."

"Figures." Naruto got up and sat back down on his bed. "So why aren't you and Karui training with us? You both use swords too."

"We didn't want to." Samui stated flatly.

"Don't give me that crap. You're too smart to have a reason that stupid." Naruto argued.

Samui looked at her fellow blonde, surprised at the praise, "and go through all that shit that you two have to deal with? Yeah right."

"Shut up with that shit and tell me the actual reason you aren't training with us before I annoy you about it for the rest of our time in this country. You're too damn smart to not want the training, and you're too fucking strong to be scared of it, so tell me what's really going on." Naruto crossed his arms adopting a stubborn look to signify he wasn't going to drop the subject.

Samui sighed and moved to take a seat on the foot of Naruto's bed. "We're not like you and Itachi." She started before settling into an uncomfortable silence.

"What do you mean?" Naruto inquired.

"Well, it's hard to explain..."

"Try."

"People tend to feel threatened by powerful shinobi from other villages, but you two seem to get along fine wherever you go. People want to interact with you, and people want to train you. It's like everyone wants you two to get stronger, even if they might be your enemy someday." Samui looked at her hands on her lap as she played with her fingers absently.

Naruto sat quietly waiting for his fellow blonde to gather her thoughts before continuing.

"Darui-san never took a student before you. When he did our villages weren't even allies yet. After the chunin exams you're all he talked about. A boy from another village. A boy he had only trained for a few weeks. A boy who beat me in the first round!" Samui's voice began to shake slightly. "You were an enemy. He should never have trained you. But from what I've heard, after he started training you the peace talks started going better. Even A-sama told Bee-sensei that they were going to pack up and leave after the Hyuga incident but you and Itachi came in to save the day."

Naruto sat quietly and listened to Samui's shaky voice as she bared her feelings to him. Her face was shielded from his view by her short blonde hair but Naruto could feel the sadness and anger radiating off of her and assumed she was crying.

"They said I was a genius. I graduated the academy at 10, and I learned everything everyone ever tought me with no problem. Nobody gave me any special training because I never needed it! They never even offered! But they helped _you_!"

Naruto activated the silencing seal hidden on his leg. He had the feeling that this was a conversation Samui didn't want to be overheard.

"Why did they help you!?" Samui nearly shouted angrily as her head shot up sending her hair whipping around briefly giving her the look of a lion's mane.

"Because I asked." Naruto said calmly and quietly.

"You asked? You graduated the academy at 7 years old! You became a chunin at 8! You and Itachi are both once in a lifetime genius's! Why the hell do you need to _ask_ for anything?" Tears were streaming down the girl's face, changing her normally mature refined beauty into a look of a child pouting.

"Itachi's the genius, not me. I've only ever accomplished anything because of the help of others. If it weren't for everyone who has helped me I would probably still be a genin." Naruto's head dropped slightly. "I know what it's like though. The feeling that you've been overlooked and ignored in the place of something better."

Samui's eyes narrowed slightly as she listened for Naruto to explain his feelings to her.

"I guess I'm kind of like you in that aspect though... the people I really wanted to recognize me... I never asked. I just kind of expected them to help me, but I was doing so well that they probably didn't see much of a need to help." Naruto spoke quietly as he came to some realizations of his own.

"What are you talking about? You just said you asked for help when you needed it." Samui said skeptically.

"My parents..." Naruto explained his relationship with his family and Samui listened intently. The two continued to talk throughout the night until the early morning sky began to glow a dark orange.

The two talked for so long and shared so many emotions that neither of them could remember what the conversation has initially been about.

"I'd like to meet her," Samui said after her laughter subsided. Naruto has just finished a story about the time Ume has followed him and Itachi out to the Uchiha training grounds to watch their spar. The first time Ume saw Itachi hit her older brother the girl had run out into the middle of the fight and began punching Itachi's thigh yelling at him to 'leave her brother alone.'

There was a knock at the door and Yugito peeked her head in, "oh, sorry." Yugito quickly shut the door and Naruto and Samui realized what it must have looked like before they both sprang up and took a seat of opposite sides of the bed.

Naruto had changed into his sleeping attire at some point in the night, a black shirt with blue pin stripe bottoms, while Samui was still in her same white t-shirt and panties. Samui had been sitting on the bed with her back against the wall, cushioned by a pillow and Naruto was laying down with the back of his head on her lap, allowing her to stroke his spiky blonde hair as they talked.

"I'm uh... I'm going to go get dressed," Samui said with a deep red blush on her face.

"Yeah... I'm going to go take a shower..." Naruto said with an equally dark blush.

Samui got up to leave first and Naruto fixed his gaze on the wall to avoid the view of Samui's shapely ass as she walked out of the bedroom. "Shit."

XXX END CHAPTER 23 XXX

I just wanted to use this chapter to reinforce the bond between Itachi and Naruto, as well as give some of the new supporting cast some color.

I'm not sure what direction I want to go with Naruto and Samui, so I'm open to suggestions.

I'll be sure to shift the focus a little more towards Itachi and Yugito's relationship as this arc goes on and eventually do kind of a split between Konoha and Kiri. That being said, expect longer chapters.

Lots of stuff will be going on so stay tuned and thanks for reading.


	24. Chapter 24: What happens in war

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 24: What happens in war

 _ **(Mizu no Kuni, one month after Team 5's arrival)**_

"How was training today?" Yugito asked Itachi as she ran her fingers down his well muscled chest and abdomen.

"It's going well. I was feeling up to this after all," Itachi said with a satisfied smile.

Yugito giggled, "I was wondering when we were going to get to go at it again. You've been so tired these past couple of weeks we barely ever have time to play."

"Yeah, we're getting stronger though. Juzo and Zabuza can hardly kick our asses anymore. We're still not nearly as good as them on our own, but we can at least hold them off for a while." Itachi said as he pulled Yugito on top of him.

Yugito leaned forward to kiss him and Itachi wrapped his arms around her thin waist and pulled her naked body closer to his.

"Good, some scars are sexy but too many make you look grotesque." Yugito shifted up and began to nibble on Itachi's ear and Itachi buried his face into her neck and started kissing her collarbone. Yugito let out a soft purr into Itachi's ear letting him know to keep going.

Itachi ran his hands up and down Yugito's back, feeling her gentle curves until resting his hands in his favorite spot on top of the dimples on her lower back.

Yugito got up on her hands and knees, looking down at Itachi. "You ready to go again already?"

In response Itachi spun around, throwing Yugito on the bed so that he was on top with her legs still wrapped around him. "We don't know when the next chance we get is going to be, we're in a war after all."

Yugito pulled his head down to hers and brought him into a passionate kiss. Yugito was the first to open her mouth and attempt to pry Itachi's lips open so she could taste him. Itachi showed reluctance only because he found it funny that his girlfriend was trying so hard. "If you don't open your mouth I'm going to put my clothes back on." Yugito said after about a minute. It was an empty threat, she wanted this as much as he did, but the threat was successful nonetheless.

Itachi opened his lips and the two began taking turns exploring the inside of each other's mouths with their tongues. ' _Wow, she tastes good,'_ Itachi thought when it was his turn. Itachi pulled away and began kissing her cheek, then neck, then collarbone. The collarbone was one of her favorite spots so Itachi took special care to pause there for a moment. Making his way down to her breasts Itachi took the time to tease the nipple, circling it with his tongue until it became hard. Once the nipple was hard he moved over to the other breast and repeated the process.

Yugito moaned quietly as she ran her fingers through Itachi's hair and squeezed him with her thighs. "Come up here," she moaned pulling his head up. Itachi obliged and crawled back up and leaned back into another kiss. Yugito reached down to grab onto Itachi's swollen cock and guide it into her.

There was a loud pounding on the door and Naruto barged in, "Itachi, we have a... Shit! Sorry!" Naruto slammed the door shut, "Itachi, we have a mission, Mei-san says we have to go ASAP!"

"Fuck me..." Itachi said as he rolled to Yugito's left.

"That's what I was going to say," Yugito said disappointedly.

Itachi got up and started getting dressed, "Itachi! We gotta go!" Naruto yelled, they could hear the excitable blonde bouncing up and down on the other side of the door.

"I'M COMING!" Itachi yelled as he pulled his pants on. "I'm sorry Cat, I gotta go. But when I get back I'm gonna-"

"Itachi, hurry up!"

"Naruto, I swear I'm going to fucking kill you!" Itachi yelled back, "I love you Cat, we'll pick this up when I get back," Itachi leaned over the side of the bed and gave her one last kiss goodbye.

"I love you too. Just don't keep me waiting too long," Yugito replied with a wink. Itachi smiled at her and grabbed Onimaru and his supply pouch.

"I'll do what I can." Itachi opened the door to find Naruto fully dressed and pacing up and down the hallway. "You're an asshole you know that."

"Just wait until you hear about our mission," Naruto said with a wide grin.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Mei's office)**_

"As some of you already know, this mission is going to be our first direct attack on an enemy compound in nearly a year," Mei stood over a table with a large map of Mizu no Kuni with pieces to represent friendly and enemy forces. "Naha port is the only supply line the enemy has on the southern coast, in the past the port has been heavily reinforced but our intelligence says it's vulnerable. With winter approaching and thanks to increased pirate raids many of their forces have moved off the coast to protect supply ships against the pirates."

"How many forces have left to warrant such a small attack force?" Itachi asked.

"Our intel suggests that nearly a third of their forces are gone. I realize that a four man squad is small for such a mission, but with winter approaching we can't afford to send a large platoon level element. That's why you four were chosen." Mei looked at the four men before her. "Due to lack of specific intel we will leave the how up to you. If the situation looks too bleak and you feel like you cannot complete the mission without casualties call it off and come back. Juzo, you will be the commander for this mission."

"Don't worry Mei-san! We'll complete this mission no matter what!" Naruto exclaimed.

"That's exactly what we don't want Naruto. You four are some of the strongest we have in the rebellion. We can't afford to lose any of you, so if things start going downhill cut your losses and come back." Mei ordered. "Now are there any questions?" Silence was her answer.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in Konoha)**_

"Beat you again Konohamaru!" Ume exclaimed. She had just gotten three leaves to stick to her fingers.

"Darn! I just can't get it!" Konohamaru exclaimed.

Hiruzen sat on the porch and smiled at his grandson and surrogate granddaughter as he puffed on his pipe and watched the two train. ' _Neither of them are quite what Naruto was at his age but they're progressing pretty well for their age.'_ Hiruzen wasn't the type to compare one student to another but it was hard not to when his previous student was arguably one of the greatest prodigies to ever come out of Konoha.

Hiruzen had come over to the Namikaze home shortly after Naruto left for his mission to Mizu no Kuni to check up and see how everything was going. Ume wasn't holding up very well at all. Her eyes were red and puffy, she has streaks running down her face, and her nose served as the origin for a flowing river of snot. From what Hiruzen gathered from Kushina she had been crying almost constantly since Naruto's departure. In an effort to get the little redhead's mind off her sorrow Hiruzen offered to train her alongside Konohamaru. Ever since then Ume came over 6 days a week to train in chakra control exercises and some of the academy E-rank ninjutsu.

"What's the trick?" Konohamaru asked.

"You just have to feel your chakra and pick out what you want to use," Ume said as she tried to get a fourth leaf. "Then you gotta move the chakra to your fingers without losing any." She got the fourth leave for a brief moment before she lost control and dropped it. "Darn!"

Hiruzen smiled at the two once more. ' _Those two will make great training partners. Just like Naruto and Itachi.'_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With Ayame)**_

"So where do you want to go now?" Alya asked her older sister.

"Let's go to the cafe and get a hot chocolate," Ayame said. They has been out shopping most of the day; it was late autumn and the two had gone out shopping for winter clothing with the extra money they made working at the Ramen stand while they weren't on missions or training.

"So what's going on between you and that Shiranui boy?" Alya asked nudging her sister playfully.

"Nothing. He just asked me out, that's all." Ayame said. Ever since Naruto left she had been getting asked out a lot by many of the boys in the village.

"When are you finally going to say yes?" Alya asked, "Naruto has been gone for over 2 months and he said it himself, he has no idea when he's coming back. It could be years! It is a war after all."

"I know, but he's the only one I want to be with."

"I know, I know. I still don't know what you see in him though," Alya said.

"What do you mean? He's cute, funny, nice-"

"-Dumb, airheaded, spastic."

"He's not dumb! He just comes across that way sometimes," Ayame defended. "He's honestly a genius, and he's helped me so much already, and he's always there to encourage me when I'm having trouble... it's just..."

"What is it?" Alya asked.

"It's just that... we're the same age and he's already a jounin and I'm an average genin at best..." Ayame shifted her gaze downward.

"So? You said it yourself, he's a genius. You can't expect to be a genin at 7, chunin at 8, and jounin at 13. That's just insane!" Alya couldn't believe what she was saying, praising the blonde airhead left a sour taste in her mouth. "Why do you feel inadequate compared to _that_?"

"Because... what if I'm holding him back? What if he's disappointed in me? He gave me that beautiful Naginata and I can hardly use it at all." Ayame said. "I feel like... I feel like he's wasted on me."

Alya stopped in the middle of the street and grasped her older sister's wrist. "Nothing is wasted on you. You're perfect just the way you are. That's why Naruto loves you and not any of the dumb fan girls that are after him all the time. That's why all the boys are asking you out now that they think you're single."

"Yeah okay... Thanks Alya..." Ayame looked down at her and her sister's glove covered hands.

"Okay! Now let's go inside and get our drinks. I'm freezing out here."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(In Mizu no Kuni)**_

Naruto, Itachi, Zabuza, and Juzo ran through the sparse forest on the way to Naha port. Naruto took the lead and sensed the way ahead. They were on the road for several hours by this time and they hadn't run into anything since they left. Naruto found it odd that they hadn't run into anything; he was sensing nearly a mile in every direction and he couldn't find anything except an occasional animal. They even intentionally came close to a small fishing village to investigate the oddity and to their surprise the village was completely deserted.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know, but I've got a bad feeling," Zabuza growled.

"Should we turn back?" Itachi asked.

"No," Juzo said, "even if we don't complete the mission we have to come back with some intel."

The four swordsmen continued towards the port, keeping an eye out for anything else.

Naruto gave the hand signal to stop and hide.

'What's wrong?' Itachi signaled.

'10 potential enemies coming from the east. Half a mile.' Naruto signed back.

The four took to their desired hiding spots in different parts of the forest, ready to ambush the potential enemies. After 5 minutes the enemies were in the kill zone. 7 high chunin to low jounin level enemies and one high level target: Mangetsu Hōzuki.

The ten enemy shinobi stopped in the middle of the kill zone. "You can come out already. We know you're here." Mangetsu said.

' _Fuck!'_ Naruto and Itachi thought simultaneously. The element of surprise was mostly lost, but they still had the opportunity to attack first. If they could take out as many of them as possible early then that would drastically increase their odds of winning.

Naruto and Itachi drew their blades and charged at some enemy combatants while Zabuza and Juzo moved to engage Mangetsu.

"Zabuza, stay back. This is a fight between two of the seven swordsmen of the mist." Juzu said as he held his executioners blade at the ready.

Zabuza nodded before joining Naruto and Itachi in their fight against the other 9 shinobi in the entourage.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (fire release: great fireball technique)"

"Fuuton: Idaina senpū! (Wind Release: great whirlwind)"

Naruto and Itachi shot their combination jutsu simultaneously, the wind jutsu drastically increasing the size and power of Itachi's fireball.

"Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Bullet Technique)" The nine lesser shinobi shot out water balls to meet the raging inferno.

With the distraction in place Zabuza appeared in a burst of speed behind the enemy shinobi sending a horizontal slash through all nine of their bodies.

All the shinobi turned into water and splashed on the ground forming a large puddle.

"You didn't think that would work did you?" one of the Kiri shinobi said from several yards away. All the shinobi removed masks from their pouches and placed them on their faces.

"Hunter nin. You said they were low jounin at best, brat!" Zabuza cursed.

"I can only sense their chakra levels, I can't sense their level of ability." Naruto retorted, shifting into a more defensive posture.

The hunter nin split off in groups of three and faced off with Naruto, Itachi, and Zabuza three-on-one.

' _Shit. this is bad.'_ Juzo thought as he faced off against Mangetsu. Juzo dashed towards the white haired swordsman and struck his executioner blade against Mangetsu's twin blades. Juzo sent a kick that connected with Mangetsu's ribs. Mangetsu smiled before unleashing a large burst of chakra blowing Juzo into a nearby tree. ' _This is really bad. We wouldn't be able to escape this even if we wanted to.'_ It was one thing to be in a sticky situation and have a way out, but being cornered like this was not a situation Juzo relished being in. Despite his reputation for having an unquenchable thirst for blood, Juzo did care for his comrades and their safety.

 _BOOM!_

Dust and smoke was suffocating him. His ears were ringing, and even though he could hardly see ten feet in front of him he could tell his vision was blurry. Not to mention the intense throbbing pain in his back. Juzo tried to hoist himself up before he gasped from the sudden pain of his back spasming. ' _What the fuck...'_ Juzo could hear chatter from what sounded like miles away.

"DAMMIT NARUTO!"

"What?"

"Why the FUCK did you just do that?"

"Because, Itachi, art... Is an _explosion_!"

Juzo's eyes focused and the dust began to settle, "You almost killed us all!" Itachi shouted.

"Aw relax man! I killed everyone I intended to kill, no more, no less." Naruto said with his hands behind his neck.

"Ugh... What the hell was that all about?" A cluster of debris, composed mostly of decimated trees, gave way to a beat up Zabuza clambering his way to freedom.

"Naruto here, used a new _technique_ without warning any of us before hand." Itachi complained.

"You sound like this has happened before," Juzo said from his spot on the ground.

"You have no idea," Itachi rolled his eyes and sighed, "one day you really are going to be the death of me, Naruto."

"Yeah, yeah, but did you see how badass that was?"

"What exactly _was_ that?" Zabuza asked, trying to work out the kinks in his neck.

"I threw a bunch of explosive tags in the air and used wind chakra to blow them towards the enemies. I'm not that great at it yet so I had to use _a lot_ of paper bombs." Naruto explained with a satisfied look.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me..." Zabuza deadpanned. "YOU IDIOT! YOU'RE 'NOT THAT GOOD' AND YOU DECIDE TO USE PAPER BOMBS ON THE ENEMIES WE'RE FIGHTING UP CLOSE?!"

"Well... when you put it that way... eh, whatever. Bad guys are dead and we're not! Damn I'm awesome." Naruto's grin widened in self satisfaction.

Zabuza's eyes widened before rolling to the back of his head and he dropped face first to the ground.

"You didn't think you four were actually going to beat me with a trick like that, did you?" The white haired swordsman known as Mangetsu sneered from behind where Zabuza was standing.

"How the fuck are you still alive?!" Naruto exclaimed incredulously.

"Why the hell would I tell you that? If I told you, you'd just come up with a plan to beat it." Mangetsu smiled at the two remaining swordsmen before him.

"That's kind of what bad guys do... they explain their special ability that allowed them to win in a crazy turn of events in order to gloat about how futile it is to continue fighting and all that," Naruto explained.

"Are you an idiot?" The white haired man was truly curious; from what he'd observed thus far the blonde had seriously underestimated the enemy from the start, nearly killed himself along with his three teammates, and now he was lecturing him on how to give up an advantage in a fight. "Whatever, it doesn't matter anyways, considering you're about to die.

Naruto and Itachi rushed towards the legendary swordsman with their own blades in hand. Naruto slashed high while Itachi slashed low. Instead of blocking or dodging Mangetsu allowed the swords to go straight through him.

' _Kamui?'_ was both Naruto and Itachi's first thought, but that terrifying thought was corrected when they saw and sensed the water reforming into Mangetsu's body. Mangetsu separated his twin sword and, with a blade in each hand, began to engage the two younger shinobi.

"You two aren't half bad," Mangetsu praised. "Especially for your age." the four swords were less than blurs in the air, but the whoosh of the swords slicing clean through the lingering dust and air was audible from a hundred yards away. "It's unfortunate that you two has to encounter me. If I were anyone else you may have stood a chance." Mangetsu parried Itachi's vertical slash and leaned out of the way of Naruto's stab. "Too bad for you that you had to encounter 'the demon reborn'."

"That. Is. Such. A. Cool. Nickname!" Naruto punctuated each word with a heavy strike that Mangetsu easily blocked.

Naruto leapt back as soon as he sensed Itachi reaching for shuriken. They were outmatched in kenjutsu, but the two Konoha jounin had more tricks up their sleeves.

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu! (Fire release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu)"

"Taiton: Saikuron! (Typhoon style: Cyclone)"

The two jusu combined and the cyclone quickly began to light ablaze, turning into a massive controlled firestorm. Itachi threw two dozen more shuriken which began to swirl inside the inferno along with the others. Many of the downed trees were sucked into the fire tornado, adding to the intensity of the flames.

Naruto grit his teeth as a film of sweat formed on his brow. The effort maintaining the attack was astounding; he knew that typhoon style was not ideal for him, but it was working. Naruto could feel Mangetsu's chakra reserves quickly draining as he tried to defend himself with the use of Suiton jutsu.

"Itachi, more fire!" Naruto grunted out.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (fire release: great fireball technique)" Itachi blew a massive, house size fireball into the vortex.

Trying to control the fire within the cyclone was only adding to the difficulty of maintaining the jutsu. At this rate Naruto's reserves would be nearly depleted by the time Mangetsu was down for the count. To Naruto's surprise he felt Itachi's assistance to his right. Naruto glanced over to see his best friend holding his hands out in a similar fashion to himself. ' _Leave it to Itachi, the true genius of Konoha to figure out my jutsu after seeing me do it once.'_

After 20 seconds Naruto felt Mangetsu's chakra signature fade away and he dropped his hands, releasing the jutsu. The shuriken within the firestorm had effectively prevented Mangetsu from escaping, leaving the master swordsman only the option to try and defend.

The flaming tornado had been nearly 100 feet tall. They just gave every enemy within 20 miles a to beacon on.

"We have to go now." Itachi said. Naruto nodded and they grabbed Juzo and Zabuza and headed off.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Hokage office)**_

"What have you found out?" Minato sat behind his desk on a chilly early winter morning. Before him stood Obito and an Uchiha teenager named Shisui.

"Although relations between the village and the Uchiha clan have been improving slowly, it is not at the pace we'd hoped." Obito rubbed at his empty eye socket, the dry air this time of year always irritated it; ironically he has to use eye drops to relieve the irritations as not to go insane over the winter months.

"I see. When it was revealed that Madara was the one who attacked the village 8 years ago distrust towards the Uchiha clan has been prominent." Minato noticed the scowl creep onto Obito's face.

"I've told you before sensei; that's not Madara." Obito growled.

"Until we have another name to address the masked man by Madara will suffice," Minato said evenly. "Nevertheless, the identity of the man still remains as much of a mystery as it was 8 years ago; all we know for certain is that the Madara imposter is an Uchiha, and he possesses the mangekyou sharingan." Obito and Shisui nodded, the two were the only two Uchiha in the village to have awakened the advanced form of the sharingan.

"Hokage-sama, I have reason to believe that 'Madara' may have more to do with the high tensions amongst the clan than we know," Shisui voiced.

"Please tell." Minato noticed the scowl on Obito's face darken.

"I've heard rumors, I haven't investigated yet, that on the first thursday of every month there are secret meetings at the Uchiha shrine where some of the more... tenacious Uchiha, go to 'discuss the future of the clan.'"

"That does sound suspicious," Minato steepled his fingers and took to his thinking pose. "What makes you think Madara is involved?"

"I have no hard evidence, and honestly it's mostly just a hunch, but the clan members who attend the meetings are the clan radicalists who openly speak of their displeasure towards the state of the clan's standing within the village hierarchy. The attendants range from clan elders to genin, and distrust towards those of us who actively support the village interests over the clans is starting to spread. Tensions within the clan itself has never been higher since Madara's initial coup in the days of the Shodaime Hokage." There was concern in his voice and Obito's expression only got worse.

"What's bothering you Obito?" Minato asked. The answer was obvious, but as emotionally driven as Obito was, he wasn't one to lose his bearing during a debriefing.

"It's... Mikoto..." Obito shifted his gaze to the floor. "She's the one we heard about the meetings from. She invited us to attend, told us that we were going to bring about real change to Konoha, to the Shinobi World. Shisui and I got a bad feeling about it and refused the invitation, then she called me a traitor. She said I have no right to be an Uchiha, that the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan was wasted on me. She said I love the outsiders more than I love my own family." Obito was visibly and audibly shaking, "she told me I dishonored the clan by giving my eye to Kakashi, she said that Rin and I would have filthy half breed children whose tainted blood will bring shame to the Uchiha name. She told me she was disgusted to have me as her adopted brother and is infuriated at the fact that I was her eldest sons sensei."

Minato was shocked, "that doesn't sound like Mikoto at all," the Mikoto he knew was extremely kind, warm hearted and caring. Minato couldn't imagine the raven haired beauty being so crass towards her beloved younger brother.

"She's under a genjutsu," Shisui stated. Obito looked to be barely containing his rage.

"I see... You couldn't break it?"

"Only kotoamatsukami would be able to break this genjutsu. It is almost guaranteed to be an ocular genjutsu, and a very powerful one at that. I would venture to say it is almost certainly a mangekyou sharingan genjutsu." Shisui looked into his Hokage's eyes to ensure he understood.

"So that's the true reason you suspect Madara..." Minato was deeply troubled by the news. "How many of the potential usurpers do you think are under the genjutsu?"

"No more than a dozen or so. Only those who weren't more radical to begin with; I believe that those under the influence of this genjutsu were put under as a display of power, almost as if Madara was saying 'you can choose to follow me or I can control you, whether it be physically or through fear, you all belong to me now.'" Shisui never felt so hopeless.

"We should increase ANBU presence around the Uchiha compound," Minato offered, "that way the next time Madara makes an appearance we can hopefully take him out."

"I would advise against that Hokage-sama. The Uchiha are especially sensitive to displays of distrust now. The best we can do is try to dismantle whatever Madara has planned from the inside," Shisui countered.

Minato paused for a moment and weighed his options. "What do you think Obito?"

"This is my fault." Obito gritted his teeth, eye still firmly focused on the ground. His fists were clenched so tight his fingernails had dug into his palms, eliciting a steady flow of dark crimson blood down his hands. "If I had killed Madara while I was with him this wouldn't be happening right now. If I was able to point the pursuit teams in the right direction... if I hadn't underestimated his abilities... I... I..."

"Obito." the cyclops looked up at his former sensei, tears streaming down the right side of his face. "We were all just glad to have you back. That's the only thing that mattered at the time. Since you've returned you have become a splendid shinobi, one poised to succeed me. You helped save the village from the Kyubi, you've saved countless lives, and you've made everyone you ever met happy to have known you. On top of that, you trained my son; you were like the father he never had growing up. I have a debt to you I could never repay. The village has a debt to you that most would feel undeserving to ever have accrued. Nobody in their right mind would ever blame you for what's happening, and even if they did then so be it, we will overcome this together."

"You're not alone Obito-sempai," Shisui smiled at his elder, "none of us has to go at it alone! Besides, I have a plan."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Mizu no Kuni, with Yugito and Samui)**_

The two fair skinned blondes walked through the camp with no real destination in mind. The camp was fairly large, as it was hidden within a recently abandoned village. It was ominous in the beginning, but as additional forces made their way in the once abandoned town was now more akin to a miniature shinobi village. The shops were run by no kidding shop owners who has fled the war torn areas of central and eastern Mizu no Kuni, and while most of them sold shinobi goods, there were a few stores that sold some luxury items.

"I was thinking of getting something sexy I could wear for Itachi," Yugito said as she looked into the only adult entertainment store in the whole town. It wasn't exactly a female friendly establishment, but it was the only place a young lady would be able to find lingerie in the entire village.

"From the sounds coming from your bedroom lately I'm pretty sure he's perfectly happy as it is." Yugito blushed a deep shade of crimson, "please, don't act so embarrassed, you two aren't even trying to hide it. From what Naruto tells me you don't even lock the door."

"Ugh that idiot walked in on us last night," Yugito complained.

"I know, he did it on purpose," Samui grinned.

"What? Why?"

"We could clearly hear what was going on from the other room and Naruto won't pass up an opportunity to fuck with Itachi," Samui chuckled. "The knock on the door with their mission just gave him the excuse he needed. Honestly, I don't understand why you don't just use silencing tags like we do."

"Silencing tags huh?" Yugito grinned and nudged Samui in the ribs with her elbow, "and what is it that you two don't want the rest of the house to hear, eh?"

"My orgasmic moans of pleasure, of course," Samui said sarcastically. "It's not like that between us. All we do is talk about stuff, the most physical we ever get is the massages he gives me when I get a back ache... and a foot massage when I ask. I swear, his fingers are magic. You know... now that I think about it, orgasmic moans of pleasure is an appropriate description of what goes down in there."

"I'm happy for you," Yugito smiled at her best friend as they walked past the adult book store and made their way to their favorite cafe.

"What do you mean?" Samui looked over to the blonde jinjuriki curiously.

"Whether or not you two are sleeping together or just talking and giving orgasmic massages, I don't think I've ever seen you so happy." Yugito looked up at the overcast sky in thought, "for as long as I've known you, you've been stoic and broody, but now with Naruto I see you smile and hear you laugh. Even if you are telling the truth and there's no romantic feelings between you two, and I hope there are," Yugito winked at her busty companion, "I'm glad you have someone who can break through your grumpy shell."

Samui shifted her gaze to the ground, an action that didn't go unnoticed by the always observant Yugito. "It's not that there aren't any romantic feelings. There are... at least from my side... but he... he has a girlfriend back in Konoha."

"Oh..."

"Yeah... I don't want to be the 'other woman' and I don't want to be with a guy who would betray someone's trust like that." It had been bothering her for weeks. Samui wanted the spiky haired duffus, but didn't know what circumstances she wanted him under. "Obviously if he broke up with her then I'd jump his bones on the spot, but I don't want to be the one to tear them apart."

"It's not your decision to make, Samui," Yugito looked at her best friend seriously. "If he wants you, he'll choose you. You just have to put the ball in his court; let him know that if he wants you he can come and get you."

"I don't know how I'd go about it..." Samui said quietly.

"Samui, I never expected you to be a shy one," Yugito grinned at the timid side of her friend she'd never before seen. "Okay, here's what you have to do." Samui did her best to look disinterested but in reality she was ready to hang on every word. "Next time you see him make eye contact, walk straight up to him, grab his junk and say I want this inside of me. He'll be single in half an hour."

Samui gave her best friend a blank look, "that's the most unreasonable thing I've ever heard... you've been talking to Matatabi too much lately."

"She gets _really_ talkative when I'm horney."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With Itachi and Naruto)**_

' _Fuck! They're right on our tail! We can't head back to the base with them pursuing us like this!'_ Naruto sensed no fewer than 50 chakra signatures hot on their tail. The signatures were all varying in power ranging from high genin to mid jounin level, but Naruto was not going to underestimate an enemy like that again. They didn't have many options: they couldn't retreat back to base, that would blow their location, they'd already screwed that one up enough by heading in that direction for so long. They couldn't hide, or try to escape, they seemed to have a sensor of some sort on their team. They were at a massive disadvantage in a fight, both Naruto and Itachi were dangerously low on chakra as it is, plus they were carrying and unconscious Juzo and Zabuza which they would have to protect.

To lesser men the choice would seem obvious: leave Zabuza and Juzo behind as tempting decoys while they made their quick escape without the added weight. But Naruto and Itachi has been taught from the start to never turn your back on your comrades. They would not disrespect their sensei by even considering such a dishonorable approach.

"Oh shit!" Naruto felt a massive chakra signature join the pursuit party, and it was gaining quickly. ' _I have no choice, it's all or nothing.'_ "Itachi, I'd tell you to take Zabuza from me and escape while I hold them off but I'm pretty sure there's no way you'd go along with that." Itachi nodded in affirmation, "we're in deep shit. There's no way we're going to be able to escape." Itachi came to the same conclusion. "It's time." Itachi nodded.

Naruto and Itachi stopped, "Mokusei domu! (Wood Dome)" wooden tendrils shot from the ground and weaved itself into a dark wooded dome around the unconscious Kiri swordsmen. Naruto reached up to his right pectoral with his left hand and with chakra coating his thumb pinky and palm he twisted counterclockwise and pulled his hand, no longer coated in chakra, away from the seal concealed by his clothing. It was a simple chakra storage seal with a powerful containment array which, when loosened, would allow Naruto to use the seal as a secondary chakra reserve rather than adding the stored chakra straight to his reserves. It was inconvenient for Naruto to have to focus on drawing chakra from the seal rather than his natural reserves, but not mixing it in with his chakra prevented any unwanted side effects, particularly the consumption of his life force like Tsunade's yin-seal did. His chakra control was hindered because of the added focus, but it would have to suffice for now.

The army of Kiri shinobi all seemed to attack the two Konoha jounin at once. "Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Koutan! (Wood Release Secret Technique: Deep Forest Emergence)" The surrounding trees began to grow and move independently of each other, while large root systems and new trees jutted out of the ground. The technique didn't take as much chakra as Naruto expected, he fully expected to be completely drained and running on fumes within moments, but it already consumed a significant chunk of his sealed chakra. ' _Just a quarter already. Not bad.'_

Naruto could feel the panic emanating off the attacking chakra signatures. Naruto's eyes were tightly shut as he focused on the jutsu, using his sixth sense to locate and attack the enemy. The trees moved in an unpredictable, seemingly random fashion, swatting away hordes of enemies, and growing new limbs and branches that jutted out, impaling their foes. One by one the masses dwindled. Naruto created a wooden barricade encircling them and preventing any of them from escaping.

' _Incredible.'_ Itachi thought, ' _so this is what Mokuton is capable of.'_ Itachi looked at his best friend with a mixture of awe and jealousy.

Several Kiri shinobi hurled a barrage of kunai and shuriken at the blonde sensor, who in turn erected several dark brown wooden tendrils in front of him to block the deadly projectiles. The Kiri shinobi who had launched the attack were then impaled by branches from trees close behind them.

' _Who is he?'_ Naruto felt the powerful chakra signature that initially forced him into this proverbial corner skyrocket and become dark and foul. The man definitely had a kekkei genkai, Naruto had already sensed that much, but now he felt the man drawing from the nature chakra around him. ' _Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!'_ He was drawing from the mokuton jutsu as well. Naruto could sense the potent presence of the nature chakra emanating from his jutsu, but hadn't anticipated one of the enemies to be a sage... or... whatever it was.

The man sped directly towards Naruto, he was the only enemy left, Naruto just needed to stop him. Wooden tendrils shot out of the roots and made to stab and restrain the man. The sage cut straight through them with the odd blades he had jutting out all over his body. Naruto's eyes were still shut tight as he was scraping the bottom of the barrel to find chakra to defend himself with until Naruto felt a blinding deafening pain in his stomach.

Naruto's eyes shot open as he attempted to cry out in pain, but all that came out was a mass of blood. All Naruto could see was red. He tried to move his arms to nurse the pain in his gut, but his arms wouldn't move. The red in his vision started to fade away, and the dark, hazy vision of the horror that was his mangled body came into view. It was like he was looking at himself from several feet above. A large white haired monster with a tail, ashen skin and bones protruding from all over his body stood with his hand through Naruto's stomach. Out of Naruto's back, a dozen white bones stuck out in all directions. Naruto's eyes began to lose their light and his head dipped up and down as his eyelids became too heavy to remain open. His head dropped forward and his body fell limp as the grey skinned monster unceremoniously dropped Naruto's unresponsive body to the ground, where a massive pool of blood began to form around him.

Itachi stood in shock. His mind blank. The Uchiha prodigy could not fathom what he had just witnessed. He was unaware of his wildly spinning sharingan or the searing pain coming from his eyes.

The monster slowly turned his head towards its sole remaining enemy. For a brief second it looked at Itachi's blood soaked cheeks before making eye contact with his spinning mangekyou sharingan.

Inside Tsukuyomi:

The monster, reverted back into it's human form, hung upside down from a crucifix. "What!?" the white haired teenager exclaimed. "What is this? What's going on?"

"He was my best friend." Itachi growled menacingly. "And _you KILLED HIM!"_ Itachi's mangekyou sharingan spun wildly as black flames shot out and engulfed his best friend's killer.

"Urahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The man screamed.

"I am going to murder you in the most painful way possible! For the next 10 days I am going to stand here and watch you burn to death over and over and over again. You will die more times than you can possibly imagine. And each time you die, you will wake up in hell, where you will burn again. and again. and again. and again." Itachi's normal cool attitude, as well as his hot fury from moments ago, were replaced with an icy aura of pure cold hatred.

Itachi slowly walked up to the crucifix, producing a kunai in his hand. "Uraghhhhhh, wha-aaaaght are yo-ugh doing!?" the man's eyes were wide and white with terror.

"This one's for me." Itachi said coldly as he slowly dragged the blade of the kunai across the man's throat, savoring the feeling of his blood spurting all over his exposed hands and face. A sick, evil, smile crept onto Itachi's face.

He woke up once more, upside down on a crucifix. "Wha-how!?" Black flames engulfed his body.

"Count." Itachi said from three yards away. "Count every second of your suffering. Do you know how many seconds are in 10 days? Let's do the math. What's sixty times sixty?"

"Uraaaaaaaaaaagh!"

"I'm sorry. That's the wrong answer." Itachi threw a kunai which impaled itself into the man's foot, eliciting a sharp cry of pain. "Let's try again. Sixty. Times. Sixty." Itachi punctuated each word with a kunai to cut off a finger on the man's left hand.

"Three ahh thousaaaand six hundred!"

"Oh, very good. Now. 3600 times 24."

After several moments of pained thinking and several more lost apendages, "Eightyyyyy six thoooooooowsand uragh four hundred!"

"And times 10?"

"Eiggggght hundreeeed sixxxxty four ahhh thousand!"

"Excellent. Now count."

Outside Tsukuyomi

After several minutes the ashen monster collapsed to the ground dead. The ten days of torture within tsukuyomi was too much for his psyche to handle. Even if he had survived, his mind would have been lost forever.

Itachi collapsed to his knees, clutching his bleeding sharingan. Itachi crawled over to his fallen friend, wading through the pool of thick sticky blood. He could smell the sickening metallic stench, so potent he could taste it in the back of his mouth. Itachi knelt down right beside Naruto, looking down at his brother in all but blood. Itachi's vision was blurry and he could barely make out what looked to be orange around Naruto's shut eyes before he too fell unconscious.

XXX END CHAPTER 24 XXX

Okay, so shit went down. That's really all I have to say about that. Expect for shit to continue to go down too.

Madara is finally starting to make moves again, and as we know, Orochimaru is currently operating in water country.

I've decided on what to do about Naruto and Samui, and no matter what happens I don't see Naruto getting out of that without a whole lot of drama.

I know we haven't seen much of Kabuto lately; just know, he's busy. Writing hospital scenes is boring and I hate hospitals in real life so I'm in no hurry to busy my imagination thinking about them. Also Karui; she's not super interesting without Omoi in the picture so... you won't be seeing much of her. I thought about pairing her with Kabuto but then I thought that would be too forced, and I really can't imagine Kabuto having a girlfriend.

For all you Shisui fans out there, you're welcome.


	25. Chapter 25: What to do

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 25: What to do

' _What's going on? what is this feeling? Where am I? What happened? Am I dead?'_ Thoughts swirled through Naruto's mind as memories began to flood through his mindscape. He tried to move, to no avail. He tried to open his eyes, nothing. Naruto was trapped in a sea of darkness. ' _I must be dead... there's no way I survived that...'_ Naruto clearly remembered looking down at himself being run through with the mass of twisting bones. ' _But what is this feeling?'_

His sensory powers were strong to begin with, probably one of the strongest in the elemental nations, but he'd never felt anything so vividly. It was as if he could feel life itself. He felt Itachi's presence, he felt Zabuza and Juzo still within the wood dome. He could feel the life force radiating off the wood dome itself. He could feel the trees breathing in the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and exhaling oxygen for him to breathe. He felt the energy flowing through the atmosphere. It felt exactly as it had in the forest during the chunin exams in Kumo, except it didn't overwhelm him like it did back then.

Naruto could sense himself as well. He felt strong. ' _But that's not right... I should be dead. Or at the very least on the brink of death...'_ There was something different about him though. He'd felt his own chakra his whole life, it was so familiar he rarely even noticed it, but now it felt distinctly different. He could feel the trees, the grass, the atmosphere itself, he could even feel the energy from his comrades and the animals nearby mixed in with his own life force. ' _What is this?'_

He felt out the flow of the energy around him. It was all flowing towards him. Into him. Just a little bit, unnoticeable to those giving it, from everything around. ' _If I'm alive,'_ Naruto tried to clench his fist, again nothing, ' _damn... What's going on?'_

Naruto tried to listen for a response, nothing. ' _That figures.'_ An explanation was too good to be true. He was left with no other option than to lay there and try to make sense of what was going on around him. There was no sign of life from the thing that had impaled him, but seeing that Itachi, Zabuza and Juzo were still alive they must have killed him.

Naruto silently meditated for hours until he felt a familiar presence. ' _Kabuto?'_ he wasn't alone. There were a dozen other familiar chakra signatures from the rebellion with him. Naruto couldn't hear what they were saying, or see what they were doing, but he could clearly feel the shock and awe radiating from them, especially as they came closer. In fact the only one who didn't seem surprised was Kabuto. Naruto tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come out.

He sensed the shinobi, directed by his glasses wearing friend, free Zabuza and Juzo from the wood dome. They were having trouble hacking through the tough mokuton wood Naruto focused and drew more of the potent chakra from the wood dome, making it easier for them to hack through the thick weaves of wood. Naruto felt Kabuto get to work on Itachi. He could feel the energy from Kabuto's body being transferred into the Uchiha prodigy. Soon after the shinobi gathered the team and took off towards the rebel base.

 _ **(in Konoha)**_

"Jiraiya-sama, don't you think it's too early to start training them to use it?" Rin asked.

"After speaking to the Yondaime, we've decided that it's for the best that they learn to harness the Kyuubi chakra to some extent as soon as possible." Jiraiya said to the purple cheeked girl before him.

"You know as well as I that their basic shinobi skills aren't nearly advanced enough to make good use of that power! Hell, their chakra control is abysmal, they can't even stick to three leaves on each hand. Ume's chakra control is better and she's three years younger than them." Rin tried to argue.

"I know you mean well." Jiraiya let out a sigh, "you've always has a soft spot for the Namikaze brats, but you have to understand this: they are all in danger. If their shinobi skills aren't up to snuff than they desperately need to have a trump card up their sleeve. Besides, with the Kyuubi chakra at their disposal they'll never have to worry much about chakra control until they get up to very delicate ninjutsu."

"I know... I just... do you think they're ready to meet it?" That was Rin's true concern, they were prepared to handle anything that could physically go wrong in their training, they've been developing the training program along with the contingency plans for eight years now, but the Kyuubi was arguably the most hate filled creature she'd ever encountered.

"They'll have to be." Jiraiya said with finality. He was asserting himself as the senior in this work relationship, telling Rin it was okay to argue for the sake of getting a point across, but he has the final say.

"When do we start?" Rin still had her reservations, but Jiraiya had made his point abundantly clear. ' _We'll do it your way for now, the best I can hope to do is prepare them for what to expect.'_

"Right about... Now."

"Rin-chan? Jiraiya-san? What are you doing here so early?" Ashina yawned as he came down the stairs for breakfast.

"Rin-chan's here?!" Mito excitedly ran down the stairs, through the living room and into the kitchen. "Good morning Rin-chan!" Mito beamed.

"Good morning Mito-chan," Rin greeted the red head with a warm smile, "Ashina," she greeted with less enthusiasm, but warmly all the same. She didn't dislike Ashina by any means, she just held a special place in her heart for Mito. She was the girl's hero and Mito was like the little sister Rin always wanted.

"Yeah, good morning... so what are you doing here?" Ashina asked as he made his way into the kitchen to pour himself a bowl of cereal. "And where's Kaa-chan?"

"Hey! Watch who you're talking to like that, ginger!" Jiraiya scolded, initiating the back and forth banter with the youngest Namikaze boy.

"Who're you calling ginger you slimy old pervert!" Ashita yelled back. ' _Ahhh best part of the day.'_

"You girly haired whisker having baka." Jiraiya cracked a small grin. The best way to get under Ashina's skin was to make fun of his hair. "We're here to start your training."

"Training!?" Mito was excited to finally receive training from her idol, while Ashina was fuming from the comment about his hair.

"Yes, we believe it's time you two learned about your powers," Minato walked into the kitchen with Kushina close behind. The beautiful red headded woman looked distraught, in fact she has barely slept in days. They had come to the decision to start their Kyuubi training three days ago, and Kushina hadn't stopped worrying since.

"What power?" Mito asked, catching on to the cryptic answer.

"The power you received the day you were born," Minato answered.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Uchiha compound)**_

 _Knock knock knock._ The one eyed Uchiha made his way to his front door and opened it. "Hello..." Before him stood a dozen members of the police force. "What can I do for you?"

"You're under arrest," Said the brown haired man leading the pack.

"By whose order?" Obito's eye narrowed. He wasn't wearing his headband or his eyepatch so his empty left eye socket and scar covered, caved in right half of his face gave him the grotesque menacing look of a hardened veteran. Many of the Uchiha men backed away nervously when they saw Obito's expression darken and his voice deepen.

"By the order of the Uchiha clan counsel." the same man responded, albeit with less bravado than before.

"Under what pretense?" Obito growled. He knew where this was going.

"You and Uchiha Shisui are suspected of treason towards the Clan," the man said. Obito's mangekyou sharingan spun causing the man to gulp and begin to sweat.

"I don't think I'll be going anywhere. But you can feel free to try and make me." Obito said in a low voice; low but loud enough for all to clearly make out the threat.

"Please Obito-san!" A young Uchiha woman in the back pleaded, "we've been ordered to bring you in by any means necessary."

"I'll try not to kill you then."

All eyes spun into three tomoe sharingan but nobody attacked, they all stood still, shaking with kunai at the ready.

"Kotoamatsukami! (distinguished heavenly gods)" Shisui flickered into existence between Obito and the police force members. "Go home and forget everything about the masked Uchiha Madara. Don't attack us again." The Uchiha police all turned around and did as they were told. "Six of them were under a genjutsu," Shisui reported, wincing at the throbbing pain in his eye. "Three of them know about Madara and are following him willingly, and the other three are just following orders."

"I figured as much," Obito growled. "I assume they already came after you."

"Yes. They figured that kotoamatsukami wouldn't work against the sharingan. They were wrong." Shisui rubbed at his now coal black eyes. "The genjutsu Madara placed them under has been dispelled, but now we have to assume that he's aware of our our intervention and he'll make his move soon."

"No. He can't win without the full support of the clan. That includes us. He needs it to be the Uchiha vs everyone else, so unless he can get rid of us then his plan cannot continue. He'd much rather have two sets of mangekyou sharingan on his side rather than not, so he's going to try to recruit us. Forcefully." They'd already made it abundantly clear that they wanted nothing to do with Madara's plans, their refusal of the invitation was enough evidence of that, so now Madara's only option was forceful subjugation.

"We have to tell the Hokage," Shisui said.

"Kakashi!" Obito's eyes widened in horror at the thought. ' _One Mangekyou sharingan is tremendously powerful on its own, why wouldn't he try to retrieve it from a non-Uchiha.'_ Obito was sucked into the black vortex centered around his eye.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Namikaze residence)**_

"So I'm... I mean we're the Kyuubi." Ashina said, he was processing what he just learned. Mito was both depressed that people seemed to hate her because of the monster sealed in her and elated at the fact that she and Rin shared jinjuriki status. "So can you explain to me again how exactly you split the Kyuubi in half again..."

"I simply made a seal that accepted Yang chakra on you and a seal that accepted Yin chakra on Mito, so all the Kyuubi's yang chakra was sealed in you and all of its Yin chakra was sealed in Mito." Minato explained.

"Right... and what does that mean?" Ashina asked with a Naruto like confused expression.

"... you have the Kyuubi's yang-"

"- yeah I get that part. But what is yang chakra and what is yin chakra? What makes them different?"

All the adults in the room shared a dumbfounded look. It was a very vague and abstract concept that evaded all shinobi for generations. "Well Yang release has to do with physical energy and breathing life into the physical world while Yin release has to do with spiritual energy and creating something out of nothing," Jiraiya explained.

"Okay... and what does that mean? Do Mito and I have different powers and abilities then? Did I get all the Kyuubi's physical power and she got all of it's spiritual power?"

"Well... no... not exactly..." Jiraiya scratched his head. You both have half of the Kyuubi's overall chakra but..."

"So you don't know," Ashina deadpanned.

"Well it's all very complicated and difficult to explain," Jiraiya defended.

"Yeah. Like I said, you don't know."

"I think we're getting off topic here," Minato interjected, "the important thing is that you are both the Kyuubi jinjuriki and we have to teach you how to harness the Kyuubi chakra."

"Ok, we'll put a pin in the whole yin yang thing for now, but it seems like whatever god created this world really screwed the pooch on that one." Ashina muttered.

"Actually yin-yang release is it's own thing," Jiraiya said.

"Like I said, we'll put a pin in it for now."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Kakashi's home)**_

"I'm coming," Kakashi walked to the front of his home to answer the door. "And what can I do for you fine gentlemen? And lady?" Kakashi answered the door to find eight Uchiha police force members.

"You're under arrest Hatake Kakashi." the spiky haired Uchiha in the middle stated.

"And what crime am I suspected to have committed?" Kakashi said in a bored tone.

"You have something that belongs to our clan."

"Interesting... I was under the impression that it was a gift and that the Uchiha would honor the circumstances under which the sharingan was given to me."

"Circumstances change." all the Uchiha police force members adopted ready positions.

Kakashi sighed and lifted his headband, revealing his sharingan, before adopting his own ready stance. A black vortex appeared before him and Obito, still in his pajamas materialized.

"What do you think you're doing Obito?" The oldest Uchiha asked.

"Stopping you from destroying any semblance of peace we have between the clan and the village," Obito's mangekyou sharingan was staring daggers through his clansmen.

"How could we expect anything less from someone like you," the female Uchiha spoke up. "You've always loved the outsiders more than your own clan. Just crawl back into your hole with the Nohara whore. Leave clan matters to the true Uchiha."

"The true Uchiha? You mean Madara?" Obito took note of the faces that reacted to his knowledge of the masked man's dealings lately. "Three of you huh... bingo." Obito sprang forward and from his outstretched hands and foot he shot out three dark green wooden tendrils that embedded themselves in the skulls of Madara's followers. The remaining three Uchiha looked on in shock as their spiky haired leader, the eldest among them, and the lone female dropped to the ground dead. "I will not tolerate those who wish to bring harm to Konoha," Obito growled. "If you three have anything to do with the coup d'etat I promise you your death will _not_ be so quick." The three men stood wide eyed and shaking. They nodded and dropped their kunai. "Now go home and never fuck with my village again." the three men turned tail and dashed off back to the Uchiha compound. "Kakashi... can I borrow a change of clothes?"

"Uhuh." Kakashi was used to Obito's eccentricities by now and as an ANBU captain was fully aware of the state of affairs revolving around the Uchiha clan. Obito walked inside his friends home and Kakashi calmly shut the door behind him. "So what's up with you?" Kakashi asked with an eye smile.

"You're a dick." Obito chuckled.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Hokage training ground, undisclosed location)**_

"So this is where Tou-san trains," Mito looked around in awe. The training ground was hidden within a deep ravine on the far north edge of the Konoha jurisdiction, several miles outside the village walls.

"Not only him. This is also where Kushina trained me to harness Isobu's chakra," Rin smiled at her little sister figure sweetly. "This is also where Jiraiya-sama comes to train with his toads."

"Only some of them. Most of my toads are pretty mild mannered and I can train with them in the regular training grounds. This place is only for extremely destructive jutsu's and training that could be potentially dangerous for the villagers." Jiraiya looked around the ravine; it was 70 meters in diameter and 50 meters deep with shale walls and rocks of varying shapes and sizes scattered throughout the area. "It was first created by the Shodaime Hokage so he and Uchiha Madara could practice their S-rank techniques far from the village and since then has been used by the Hokage and the most powerful shinobi of Konoha to do the same."

"Wow," Mito breathed out. Even Ashina looked on in wonder. The idea that they would be training on the same grounds that the most powerful shinobi in Konoha's history was awe inspiring.

"I remember training here with Orochimaru when we received the title of Sannin..." Jiraiya looked up at the distant sky remembering his dead friend and rival. "There's nothing quite like training your ass off with your rival," Jiraiya smiled as he remembered the two of them constantly trying to outdo each other. Orochimaru was always one step ahead, that is until Jiraiya showed him sage mode for the first time.

"Are you okay Ero-sensei?" Ashina asked, using the new nickname he came up with earlier that morning. It has a nice ring to it.

"I'm fine. Just thinking about a friend." Jiraiya's expression became hard and serious. "Your training begins now."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Rebel base, Mizu no Kuni)**_

Naruto's eyes flickered open to find he was surrounded by friendly faces. From left to right is saw Kabuto, Itachi, Yugito, Mei, Juzo, Zabuza, and Samui. Itachi, Juzo, and Zabuza were covered in bandages and Juzo was on crutches. Samui's eyes were red and puffy, long since cried dry.

"Welcome back brat." Juzo smiled at his blonde student.

"So we all made it?" Naruto asked as he did a final head count to make sure.

"Barely. If it weren't for you and Itachi we all would have been gonners," Zabuza said with a hint of praise. "Speaking of which: this belongs to you." Zabuza tossed a bandaged fish shaped blade on Naruto's lap.

"What? No way! This is for you! I couldn't!" Naruto stammered.

"I can't use it. The only way to wield one of the seven swords is to have it given to you by it's previous owner or to defeat its previous owner and take the blade for yourself. When you took the twin blade after you and Itachi defeated Mangetsu it became yours by right of succession," Zabuza explained.

"Well I'm perfectly happy with Odenta. So Zabuza, I would like to give you this sword. The seven swordsmen should all remain with Kiri shinobi."

"Awesome!" Zabuza excitedly snatched the twin blade from Naruto's lap and secured it to his back.

Everyone chuckled except for the tall auburn haired woman standing at the foot of the bed. "When were you going to tell us you were a Mokuton user?" Mei had a gleam of dangerous fury in her eyes.

"I wasn't." Naruto said simply.

"How the _hell_ were you going to keep this from us? With the Mokuton that changes everything! We can finally take on Utakata and start a true offensive against Kiri!"

"I was forbidden to reveal my Mokuton to anyone unless I was in a life or death situation." Naruto explained.

"Well you're going to have a hard time keeping it a secret now," Mei said. "That and Itachi's mangekyou sharingan is all that anyone is talking about."

"Mangekyou... WHAT?!" Naruto shot straight up in the hospital bed, surprising everyone. Barely a day earlier he has a massive basketball sized wound through his stomach.

Itachi smiled and nodded as his friends eyes shot at him. "When you 'died' it was awakened. Speaking of which... How the hell are you alive?"

"I uh..." Naruto scratched his chin as he tried to remember what has happened. Last thing he remembered after blacking out was the feeling of nature chakra. "I think I absorbed the natural chakra in the air to speed up my healing..."

"You absorbed nature energy?" Mei was dumbfounded, "you're a fucking sage too?!" she was getting really tired of having these things kept from her.

"Well not exactly. I've been training in it a little, but I've never been able to control it," Naruto explained. "So I can't go full sage mode, but I guess I can use nature chakra a little...I don't know, it's weird," Naruto shrugged.

"So you're a seal master, a sensor, a mokuton user, and semi-sage..." Nothing would ever surprise Mei again.

"I'm no seal master. I still have a ways to go in that regard, but aside from that yes. Can we please keep the mokuton thing under wraps as much as possible though, I really don't want that target on my head yet." Naruto wasn't nearly powerful enough to survive if that got out.

"Fine," Mei said reluctantly. "The rumors will still circulate but we can try to play it off as just rumors."

"Awesome! Now let's make like a tree and get the fuck out of here!" Naruto sprang to his feet and cracked his back.

Samui, who had been in shock since Naruto and his team were discovered near dead, sprang to her feet and wrapped her fellow blonde into a tight hug.

Naruto could sense the feeling of relief from her chakra signature, despite her dry sobs, was tranquil and calm. Samui's chest was pressed tightly against his back, so Naruto couldn't turn around and return the hug. Naruto lifted his hand up and gently caressed Samui's hand and forearm in a display of affection.

"She hasn't slept in days," Yugito told Naruto.

The gathering of shinobi had cleared out so that the only ones remaining in the hospital room was Naruto, Yugito, Samui and Itachi. "Let me change and we can head home," Naruto said.

Yugito gently removed Samui from Naruto's back, "we'll wait for you outside."

Naruto unsealed a set of his regular shinobi attire from the seal on his wrist. ' _Where's my Hitai-ate?'_ Naruto only had the one that Amaye gave to him two months ago, ' _I bet it's back at the house.'_ Naruto quickly got dressed and walked outside to find an exhausted Samui dozing off on a bench. "Here, I've got you." Naruto gave Samui his back, allowing her to climb on piggy back style so he could carry her back.

The four walked down the unusually busy street back to their house.

"I'm happy you're safe," Samui whispered into Naruto's ear as she nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Mei's office)**_

"It's just too hard to believe that this happened by coincidence." Mei stood behind her desk looking out the window. "How is it that one of the seven swordsmen and nine hunter nin just so happened to run into our team?" it was a hypothetical question of course, "and on top of that, 50 enemy shinobi were in close enough proximity, and were ready enough to immediately hunt down Juzo's team, organize an attack, and attempt to directly engage them."

"It is clear now that there is a spy among us," Ao said. "Unfortunately it could be anyone. We have no reason to believe that the enemy knew what our plan was, or who was going to be there. All we know is that they knew when to find them there."

"Our departure time wasn't a very tightly kept secret," Juzo added.

"We can't let it get out that Kiri has a spy within our ranks. The rebellion is too fragile right now, if the new recruits knew we were so vulnerable then they might turn tail and leave as fast as they came." Mei said.

"The spy could be among them," Ao said.

"I don't think so." Zabuza spoke up, "it's too soon for one of the new recruits to start spying. They don't have the complete trust of their comrades yet, if they were to start leaking information right away then suspicion would go directly to them right away."

"So it's someone we trust?" Ao said.

"As a former ANBU I know that the most effective spies are those we believe to be beyond suspicion. And the most effective among them are those we trust unconditionally. If this guy's no amature, and I get the feeling that the enemy knew who they were going to encounter, so if I'm right he's not, It's someone we wouldn't expect."

"Okay, the person I least expect is Mei-san." Ao said sarcastically.

"That's taking it too far... Mei-san has been doing too much to harm Kiri. I know that Kiri is full of sick bastards that don't value human life, but those are military assets that we've destroyed on her behalf. It won't be someone who actively participated in devastating operations." Zabuza crossed his arms in thought.

"Could one of the Kumo or Konoha shinobi be the spy?" Ao asked.

"They could be, but I doubt it. There is no political advantage to siding with Kiri in this war, so it's in Kumo and Konoha best interest to hold up their end of the deal. On top of that, a single ally village sending a spy would be treacherous to us as well as the other allied village." Not many people gave Zabuza the credit he deserved in regards to his analytical mind. "Besides, the two of the victims of this fiasco were Konoha shinobi, so that at least puts the Konoha brats in the clear."

"Very well, Zabuza, I am making you the lead investigator to find the spy." Mei said. "You are all dismissed for the time being."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(team 5's home, Mizu no Kuni)**_

Naruto opened the door to Samui's bedroom. Surprisingly it was his first time in there; when the two hung out for their late night talks they did it exclusively in his room or the kitchen. Naruto looked around the room, it was a little messy, Samui seemed to have trouble putting her clothes away after they were washed. At least Naruto hoped they were washed. Her desk next to the bed was bare except for an alarm clock, and the bed was unmade with light blue sheets and a comfortable looking brown blanket strewn on top of it. Naruto found the messiness of the girls room endearing, ' _it's nice to see that she has at least one flaw,'_ he thought.

Naruto entered the room, careful not to bump her against the doorframe, and gently sat down on the bed. Naruto pried her arms from around her neck and laid her down, he took off her sandals and pulled the blanket over her. Naruto smiled as he watched the blonde beauty nuzzle her face into the pillow. Naruto walked to the door and opened it to leave.

"Naruto," Samui said sleepily. Naruto looked back to see the girl looking directly at him with heavy eyelids fluttering open and shut. "Please stay." She said, pulling the blanket up to offer him the spot next to her.

"I... I shouldn't..." Naruto said.

"Please, I don't want to lose you again," Samui said in a small voice.

Naruto knew how difficult it was for her to be sincere like this, or to open up in any way. He was honored that she allowed herself to get so close to him, so when she said she didn't want to lose him Naruto closed the door, took off his sandals and crawled into the spot next to her.

Samui shifted her body close so that she was snugly pressed against him and she draped her arm over Naruto's chest and hooked his leg with her own. "I love you," she whispered before falling asleep with her head on his shoulder.

' _Shit...'_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Hokage office)**_

"We have to act now," Minato said.

"Hokage-sama, not every Uchiha is a willing participant in the coup. Can we have a little bit of time to determine those who are being coerced in order to prevent needless deaths?" Shisui requested.

"Thursday night. That is when we make our move. Any Uchiha in the Uchiha clan compound will be considered enemies of Konoha. ANBU will be monitoring the compound at all times until then; if Madara wants to make a move we won't be caught off guard." Minato looked at the three sharingan wielding men before him with pride. Minato took no pleasure in giving the order to exterminate a large portion of the most powerful clan in Konoha, but with men like these under his command he knew Konoha would be fine.

' _Three days,'_ Obito thought. ' _Madara... I will kill you.'_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Team 5's house, Mizu no Kuni)**_

' _Okay, it's no big deal. So you slept with her... I mean slept next to her. There's nothing wrong with that.'_ Naruto sat on his bed in his own bedroom staring down at the white hitai-ate in his hands. He was right, Itachi had taken it to the house along with anything else that wasn't either torn to shreds or permanently stained red with blood; that amounted to the hitai-ate and his shinobi sandals. "Just because I like Samui doesn't mean I'm betraying Ayame..." Naruto muttered to himself.

"Yes it does," Naruto looked up to find Itachi standing in the door frame. "And you'd be surprised how much work it took for me to wash all the blood out of that headband." Itachi walked in and took a seat next to Naruto on his bed.

"Thanks... and what do you mean 'yes it does?'"

"Naruto, I've been standing in the doorway for over 5 minutes watching you mull over your thoughts. I've known you long enough to know that if you don't sense something right away it's because something is bothering you. And you literally said, out loud, 'Just because I like Samui doesn't mean I'm betraying Ayame.'" Itachi quoted.

"Oh... well it doesn't... not technically. It's not like I'm going to do anything about it..."

"You already have, dumbass." Itachi scolded.

"What do you mean?"

"So you're going to sit there and tell me that you two sit around in here, cuddling, if what Yugito says is true, and talking about shit all night every night and that doesn't mean anything. You're going to tell me that you two sleeping in the same bed all snuggled up means nothing?" Itachi eyed his best friend who gave a weak nod. "Fine, then I'll tell Yugito that I'm sleeping in your bed tonight, if that's just what friends do."

"What! No way!" Naruto scrambled to his feet and pointed his finger at Itachi accusingly, "I don't know what you're trying to pull baka, but there's no way I'm sleeping with a dude!"

"So it does mean something." Itachi felt a feeling of satisfaction at having made his point. "Just because you and Samui are friends doesn't mean that neither of you feel anything more than friendship for each other. In fact, I'd say it's pretty clear that you both feel more than just friendship."

"I... I don't know what to do..." Naruto took a seat back on the bed, after realizing that Itachi was merely making a point. He did enjoy last night with Samui. Honestly, any reservations he has about it went out the window the second she snuggled up next to him. "I can't do anything physical with her when I'm still with Ayame; and I don't want to send Ayame a letter... besides... I still love her." Naruto stared at the white cloth and metal plate in his hand. He hadn't written the brown eyed ramen chef/ kunoichi in a while, but as soon as he looked at her last gift to him he immediately thought back to the time when they were 7, up on the Hokage monument after his first kill.

"You have to choose." Itachi looked intently at Naruto; he could see the thought bubbling up in his head. "You _can't_ have them both."

"I know..." Naruto looked slightly disappointed that he couldn't take an easy way out.

"I'm serious." Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly. "I'm your friend, and I'll support whatever decision you make; but what you're doing, even if you haven't slept with either of them, isn't fair to anyone."

"I know!" Naruto got to his feet and looked down at Itachi angrily. He'd activated the silencing seal on his thigh as soon as he noticed Itachi in the doorway. "I know I can't have them both! Neither one of them deserve that, and it's beyond selfish of me to think otherwise! I just don't know who to choose! I've known Ayame since we were 6, she's been there for everything when I've needed her, she's the kindest girl I've ever met, and when this is all over we're going back to her in Konoha... But Samui... at first she came off like a bitch, but once she opened up... I felt like, for once, somebody needed me as much as I needed them, y'know? Plus, she's here, and who know's how much longer we're going to be here. Like, what if I reject her and she hates me because of it?"

"You're thinking about it too logically, Naruto." Itachi closed his eyes and tilted his head down. "Just tell me, who do you want to be with?"

"I don't know."

Itachi stood up and walked out of the room, "well until you figure it out, you can't have either of them."

Naruto flopped on his back and stared up at the ceiling. ' _Fuck man... Normal 13 year olds don't have to deal with this bullshit.'_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Amegakure)**_

"Are you sure about this Yahiko? I don't trust that guy," asked a beautiful blue haired kunoichi with amber eyes and facial piercing on her bottom lip.

"I don't trust him either," the orange haired man known as Yahiko replied. "But if the Akatsuki really intends to bring about change in this world we're going to have to deal with Madara eventually."

"I agree with Yahiko, Konan," said the thin red haired shinobi standing next to Yahiko. The man's bangs completely covered his eyes and he looked frail and unimposing. He spoke quietly, and sounded meek. "It will be better for us to keep an eye on Madara."

"Besides, we all know why he came to our group," Yahiko said. "I don't know why he want's it, but I get the feeling that he'd do anything his power to take it if we refused."

"No matter what he tries, Nagato could easily defeat him," Konan said confidently.

"I'm afraid that Madara is smart enough to not consider trying to take Nagato on directly. Madara has survived in the shadows since the days of the Shodaime Hokage," Yahiko explained, "he's a master of manipulation and I don't want to see what his plan B is. At least this way we're cooperating on our own terms."

"Okay, so what's our mission this time?" Konan asked their group's leader.

"Recruitment."

XXX END CHAPTER 25 XXX

All right, just gonna get this clear from the start: it's not a harem.

Now that we got that out of the way, moving on. Since they know 'Madara' is behind the Uchiha coup d'etat they don't have much of an option but to react accordingly. After the Kyuubi attack 8 years prior they aren't taking any chances against Uchiha Madara.

Mito and Ashina are starting their training with the Kyuubi chakra, which is going to prove to be... eventful...

Ume and Konohamaru are going to be rivals and friends growing up, but unless I want to make this story massive, I may have to leave them out most of the time.

I also want to point out that characters are much more mature than their ages suggest. I mean if you think about it Naruto and Itachi have been members of the military since they were 7. Child soldiers aren't used in developed countries in the real world, but in 'Naruto' kids are serving in the village military at extremely young ages. Not even taking into account the amount of psychological damage this does to adults in the real world, just think of what actually happens to people during war. 18 year olds go to war looking 18 years old and come back 6 months to a year later looking 25. Plus seeing war makes you mature dramatically. I know Kishimoto made his characters so young so that the shonin target audience would relate to them more, but honestly, even though these kids are 13 years old they're really more like late 20 year olds just because of their life experiences. That being said, it's not crazy to think that they're already in serious relationships at this point, so keep that in mind please.

Chapters will no longer be a consistent length, because I do what I want.


	26. Chapter 26: Bonds

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 26: Bonds

 _ **(Rebel base, Mizu no Kuni)**_

Naruto couldn't take it anymore. He was thinking himself insane, he needed to do _something._ He had nobody to train in kenjutsu with, not that he wanted company to begin with, and he didn't feel like practicing any ninjutsu unless it was mokuton, and he was trying to downplay the rumors of his kekkei genkai. That left fuinjutsu and taijutsu; sitting around drawing symbols on sealing paper sounded hellish so taijutsu it was.

Naruto ventured deep into the woods and began taking his frustrations out on the surrounding trees. His taijutsu training quickly devolved from actual training and soon became a game of 'see how hard I can hit this tree without breaking any bones.' not that breaking bones was a huge concern to the boy who healed from a gaping hole through his body in a day, and without even so much as a scar to show from it. ' _I wonder why this one scared...'_ Naruto reached up and felt the small scar below his eye.

The blonde sensor paused and looked around the area. He was practicing Tsunade's technique of focusing chakra to reinforce her fist and arms to enhance strength and durability. He wasn't nearly as proficient at the technique as the Senju princess, but the results were still devastating; Naruto looked around at the mass of splinters and rubble that remained after his taijutsu on the surrounding trees and rocks.

"Well... there're no more trees so what should I do now..." Naruto mumbled to himself.

Naruto made a hand seal and produced 20 solid clones. The clones made a circle around him and drew a handful of kunai and shuriken in each hand. Naruto unsealed Odenta and began to block the hail of weapons. The original blonde spun and deflected a kunai, ducked and dodged another, deflected a shuriken out of the air with his right hand and caught a kunai with his left. Naruto let his newly acquired kunai sail into an oncoming shuriken, causing both weapons to ricochet off each other and block two other incoming kunai. Naruto leaned back, allowing a kunai to sail inches away from his face, rolled to the right, bringing Odenta along with him to drive another Kunai into the ground.

Every time his clones ran out of weapons Naruto would dispel them and summon more clones to take their place. This process continued long past sunset, where Naruto was happy to meet the new challenge of practicing the same exercise with limited visibility. On his last batch of clones Naruto directed them to utilize ninjutsu as well. Being clones of himself, however, their competitive nature got the better of them and they started using increasingly powerful techniques. It wasn't until one used a mokuton technique that Naruto decided to call it for the night.

"Stupid ass clones..." Naruto cursed under his breath, ignoring the fact that they were copies of himself.

"You've been out here since 5 this morning," Itachi said.

"I know." Naruto replied. He felt Itachi's presence from nearly a mile away. He wasn't trying to sense him, but his chakra signature was so familiar that Naruto almost instinctively sensed his presence at all times unless he was distracted by troubling thoughts.

"What are you doing out here?" Itachi inspected the area, noticing the obvious fact that the once thick forest was recently cleared and covered in splinters.

"Training," Naruto replied.

"Yeah, that's how you've always avoided your problems," Itachi said.

"I'm not avoiding anything. You saw what happened last week, we have to get stronger," Naruto answered meekly.

"That's true," Itachi crossed his arms, "but that's not _why_ you're out here playing lumberjack."

"Okay, if you know me so well how about you tell me _why_ I'm out here!" Naruto snapped, stared daggers at his best friend.

"Because you've made up your mind," Itachi said. "You know what you want to do, but you're putting off actually doing it."

"Yeah, how do you know that?" Naruto made a hand seal and erected a stone bench from the ground and took a seat.

"Because I know you almost as well as I know myself." Itachi walked over and took a seat next to Naruto.

"Then what did I choose?" Naruto asked, staring down at the ground.

"I don't know what you chose, but I know why you chose it," Itachi answered cryptically.

"That doesn't make any sense," Naruto replied with a weak chuckle. "Who would you choose?"

"I can't tell you that. It's your decision, not mine," Itachi replied.

"I don't want to choose..." Naruto said quietly.

"I'm not going to pretend I know what you're going through. Yugito is the only girl I've ever loved. I can't imagine having to choose between her and someone else. Right now I'd say I would choose her over anything, but I don't have anyone to compare her to." Itachi felt sympathy for his friend.

"That's the thing... I can't compare either of them to anyone else, that's not fair to them. It's like trying to compare two powerful enemies: each one is powerful for their own reasons, just like both Ayame and Samui are great for their own reasons." Naruto looked down at his palms as if hoping one of them would weigh down the other and tell him who he should choose. "You're right when you said I already chose... that doesn't make actually doing it any easier."

"I know," Itachi said.

"I guess I should just get it over with, shouldn't I?" Naruto said.

"Take whatever time you need. Just don't keep her waiting too long," Itachi said.

"Now when you say 'her'..."

"Shut up and let's get out of here."

"Just a second." Naruto sensed around to make sure nobody was anywhere near them. "Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Koutan! (Wood Release Secret Technique: Deep Forest Emergence)" New dark brown trees suddenly grew into existence, fully maturing from an army of saplings into a thick fully matured forest in a matter of seconds. "There. Now it's like no one was ever here."

"Except for the fact that these are clearly aren't pine trees." Itachi said matter of factly.

"Shit... I don't know how to make those. Do you think anyone will notice?" Naruto asked dumbly.

"Probably."

"Eh, whatever. I like these trees better anyways." Naruto shrugged.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Kirigakure)**_

"I told you my informant wouldn't let us down," Orochimaru hissed.

"Yes, it appears that the information he provided was correct," Madara replied. "Based on the information we received from the search party we sent out there is a mokuton user amongst them."

"We should capture him soon before he learns some of the Shodaime Hokage's more powerful techniques." Orochimaru was almost shaking with excitement at the prospect of getting his hands on some fresh Mokuton users cells.

"Yes, he could prove to be a problem for us if he develops and becomes too powerful. Leave him to me." Madara said.

"With all due respect Madara, you're too busy with Konoha and working on our overall plan. Please allow me to take care of him," Orochimaru held his breath for a moment.

"Very well. I'll allow you to take care of him for now. If you fail, however, we'll do it my way." Madara replied.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Wednesday night, Konoha)**_

"Make sure you and Sasuke get out of here by 1800 tomorrow," Obito told Mikoto from Shisui's side.

"Why don't you just use Kotoamatsukami on everyone in the clan?" Mikoto pleaded. "Why does it have to be this way?"

"Those not under Madara's genjutsu won't look me in the eyes," Shisui explained. "The only reason I'm able to reverse the effects of Madara's genjutsu is because those under the influence of it immediately activate their sharingan to fight when they see me."

Obito nodded, "it's a very powerful genjutsu in its own right for even a three tomoe sharingan to be unable to see through it. Only kotoamatsukami has been able to break it."

"But-"

"Please Mikoto. Just do as we ask," Obito looked at his adoptive sister with a somber look in his eye. It pained him that it had come to this, but Konoha was his first priority, and he would choose it over his clan no matter what. Shisui grunted in pain and grasped at his bleeding eye. "Are you okay Shisui?" Obito asked.

"I'll be fine. It's just that using my Mangekyou sharingan so much over the past few days is taking its toll on me."

"It's okay. This is our last stop anyway," Obito said. He didn't have as much of a problem using his Mangekyou abilities as Shisui did, thanks to Hashirama's cells, but he could imagine the strain Shisui was putting himself through.

"How many?" Mikoto asked meekly.

"It's better if you don't know," Obito said. The original number of Uchiha under the genjutsu was much lower than they had originally suspected. Apparently Madara was much more adept at the art of persuasion than they had hoped. "We should get going. We don't want those still involved in the coup to suspect anything." With that both Obito and Shisui shunshined away.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Ayame)**_

"I'm honestly surprised you agreed to go on a date with me," Said a bandana wearing boy with neck length brown hair as he played with the senbon between his teeth. The two were sitting across from each other at western style diner.

"It's not a date, Genma. We're just two teammates going out to eat dinner after a mission. That's all." Ayame said sternly. She has to act sternly with Genma, if she wasn't she would easily fall for his cool facade and carefree charm.

"Yeah yeah, I know you're dating the prodigy Naruto," Genma said dismissively.

"You don't have to sound so put off by it," Ayame couldn't help but to chuckle slightly. "What is it that you dislike about him so much?"

"It's not that I don't like him; he's a nice enough guy, and he's always willing to help in some way, but prodigies just have a way of making you feel... unimportant," Genma said in his laid back tone.

"Genma..." Ayame looked up from her menu, "are you jealous?"

"That he has you, yes. That he's a genius, no." Genma continued to scan the menu.

Ayame fought off the slight blush brought on by the flirtatious comment. "What do you mean you're not jealous of him being a genius?"

"Honestly, that's a lot of pressure to live up to," Genma said. "Besides, it has to be difficult for people like that to make friends with people their own age, no matter how nice they are." Genma saw the confused look on Ayame's face so he chose to elaborate. "Have you ever noticed that the only people our age Naruto ever hangs out with is you and Itachi? Why do you think that is?"

"What do you mean? He hangs out with us all the time," Ayame responded.

"No, he hangs out with you all the time, the rest of us just so happen to be hanging out with you while he's there. Also, he only ever hangs out with all of us to train, and even then it's obvious that he's holding back to spare our feelings," Genma said setting down his menu to look at Ayame. "Like I said, I don't dislike him, it's just that genius's tend to alienate their peers because the rest of us can't keep up and they get bored. It's not their fault, and it's not ours either, it's just the way it is."

Ayame thought about what Genma said for a moment. When she thought about it she realized that she hadn't actually seen Naruto train all out since they were children; aside from his kage bushin and his fuinjutsu she'd never seen Naruto do more than a B-rank jutsu since the chunin exams. From what he'd shown her one would think that he was about mid chunin level. "He's holding himself back... to spare my feelings?"

Genma noticed that he struck a sore spot and quickly tried to rectify his mistake. "No! I mean... yes... but it's only because he cares about you."

"Genma. Please don't try to make me feel better," Ayame said. "You're the only one who's never tried to sugar coat things to make me feel good. You've always been the blunt one, and I appreciate that about you. That way I know what you're saying is true."

"I just don't want you to get the wrong idea and think that you're not good enough or something stupid like that," Genma said, quickly returning to his nonchalant attitude.

"Thanks..." The two fell into an awkward silence.

"Well I know what I'm getting. What about you?" Genma asked, successfully breaking the tension.

"Same as always," Ayame said with a small smile as Genma waved down the waitress.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Hokage training ground)**_

"I've never been so exhausted," Ashina said, gasping to catch his breath.

"That's not exactly a high bar now is it," Jiraiya taunted, "you've never trained seriously. At least not to your potential. The Kyuubi chakra that naturally circulates through your body drastically enhances your reserves. You two haven't even used a tenth of your potential power."

"What do you mean?" Mito asked, on her knees gasping for air.

"I mean you're slacking! Now dodge!" Jiraiya sent a kick directly at Mito's head, which the young redhead narrowly avoided. "If you were nearly as tired as you say you are you'd have taken that straight to the temple! Now stop slacking and fight back!" Jiraiya chased down Mito, who leapt away, before changing direction and going after a still downed Ashina, connecting a hard left foot to his ribs.

Ashina coughed up some blood after landing on the hard rock ground.

"Dig down deeper dammit!" Jiraiya shouted, making a kage bushin and sending it after Mito, as he took after Ashina.

Rin quietly looked on from the sidelines, ' _Kushina said the Kyuubi would be stingy with its chakra, but this is ridiculous.'_

Flashback:

"Their first contact with the Kyuubi will be the hardest to make," Kushina explained to Jiraiya and Rin. "It doesn't care about how much pain you're in, it only cares to help if it thinks its own life is at stake." She knew what this information meant to Jiraiya, she knew from Minato that the toad sage could be particularly brutal in his training methods, "so unless Mito and Ashina believe that they may actually die then they won't be able to consciously draw on the Kyuubi's chakra.

"But there's no way we'd actually kill them," Rin said. "They have to know that."

"They know _we_ won't try to _intentionally_ kill them," Jiraiya said cryptically. "I know who they won't be so sure about though."

End flashback.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Summoning Jutsu)" Jiraiya shouted, slamming his open palm on the ground. "Gamagori, Gamariki, do what you want with them." Jiraiya said to his two horse sized summons. Gamagori was a blue staff wielding toad with a turquoise underbelly and a broad downward angled brow, giving him the look of permanent rage, whereas Gamariki was a green feminine looking toad with large red lips and eyes on top of his head which gave his face a snail like appearance.

"When you say 'do as we want' does that mean we can kill them?" Gamagori asked.

"Don't hold back," Jiraiya replied.

The two toad's eyes narrowed on the twin jinjuriki. Gamariki shot a powerful jet of water at the two Namikaze children, which they narrowly avoided. Gamagori followed the water jutsu with a swipe from his staff, connecting first with Mito, and driving her into Ashina.

The twins were sent flying into the shale wall where they fell to the ground. Struggling to their feet they were met once more with the red staff pinning them up to the ravine wall. Behind Gamagori the green toad shot another jet of water and the blue toad leapt high into the air a split second before the water hit the two jinjuriki.

The jutsu was unavoidable, and the twin's had barely enough time to guard themselves. They were blasted into the hard wall behind them, choking on the water beneath the clear moonlit sky. They dropped to the ground once more.

Ashina looked up to the sky. ' _This is the kind of night Naruto-nii likes so much.'_ Ashina thought back to the rare nights that his older brother would take him out to train under the starlit sky. ' _Why did you always go so easy on me,'_ he thought. Ashina turned his head to look at a motionless Mito. Ashina couldn't see his sister moving at all, not even the rise and fall that would signify breathing.

Ashina crawled over to his sister and rolled her over. She laid limp with water dripping from her nose and mouth. Ashina tried to shake her awake, but she wouldn't move. He checked her pulse but found nothing. Ashina began to panic and search for any sign of life. "Ero-sensei! Rin-onee-chan! Help! Mito's not breathing! Rin-chan, we need to heal her!"

The blue toad landed several yards away and charged at the male jinjuriki holding his sister in his arms. Ashina blocked the staff from striking Mito by butting himself between her and Gamagori. The hard red staff hit Ashina hard in the back, sending him flying into the shale wall once more. Ashina fell to the ground with Mito still in his arms. "Stop it! Mito needs help! Stop it!" Ashina cried as Gamagori charged at him once more.

' _ **You don't get it do you?'**_ A deep hate filled voice filled Ashina's head. ' _ **If you don't realize it by now you're far too stupid to ever get along without my power.'**_

Ashina looked around to find that Jiraiya and Rin were nowhere to be found. ' _What? They left us?'_

' _ **You really are hopeless.'**_

Ashina found himself in what appeared to be a leaky dimly lit sewer. "What the hell?" Mito was no longer with him. Ashina heard a hateful growl from down one of the several diverging corridors. "Kyuubi? Is that you?" Ashina climbed to his feet and followed the leftmost corridor until he found himself in a large empty atrium with huge metal bars at the end.

" _ **So you finally made it here did you?"**_ A deep gravelly voice said from behind the heavy metal bars.

"Y-you're the Kyuubi..." Ashina said.

" _ **No shit,"**_ the giant orange fox made his way to the front of its cage.

"Wh-what's going on?" Asked Ashina, his voice shaking slightly in fear.

" _ **You're teachers abandoned you and left you and your sister to die,"**_ the Kyuubi said. " _ **Your sister is dead now thanks to them, along with my other half,"**_ the Kyuubi growled. " _ **You can avenge her. Or at least you could, if you weren't so weak and pathetic."**_ The Kyuubi taunted.

"That's impossible! Mito's not dead! Ero-sensei and Rin-chan would never let that happen!" The young Namikaze shouted.

" _ **But they did. And you're next."**_ The Kyuubi said, " _ **I suppose I could lend you some of my power in order for you to survive and avenge your dead sister. Here, take some of it. Take as much as you can handle."**_

A river of red chakra spilled out from behind the bars, making its way to Ashina. Ashina was hesitant at first, "why should I trust you?"

" _ **You shouldn't. I would eat you the first chance I got. But if you die then I die, and I'm the only half of me left, and I'm in no hurry to die."**_

Ashina looked at the giant demon fox skeptically, "so you only want to help me out of your own self interest... What happens after this? Are you just going to sit back here until other bad things happen and only help after people I care about die?" Ashina asked after analyzing the Kyuubi's reasoning for a moment.

" _ **That's the idea."**_ The Kyuubi looked down at the yellow and red haired child.

"Then no deal."

" _ **WHAT!? How dare you! Who do you think you are!?"**_

"That's a terrible deal. What's the point of having this power if I can't use it until after something bad happens? I want access to your power whenever I want. That's the deal, otherwise we both die right here." Ashina looked at the enraged Kyuubi for a moment before the great fox started to laugh.

" _ **You hold none of the cards in this negotiation boy! You don't even realize that your sister dying was all just a genjutsu! It makes sense that you'd ask to make my power your own. Someone as weak and pathetic as you has no hope but to use the powers of others. Fine, you can use my chakra whenever you want, just try not to embarrass me you worthless whelp."**_ The river of chakra moved forward and enveloped Ashina, smothering him in a cloak of power.

Ashina blinked to find himself in the ravine once more, only this time Jiraiya and Rin were standing 10 yards away watching the two jinjuriki and the toads were nowhere to be found. The cold starlit night looked like he was seeing it all through a red lense, which wasn't far from the truth. Ashina looked at his hands to find that they were covered in a thin layer of red chakra.

Jiraiya slowly approached the chakra covered Ashina, "how do you feel?"

"I feel... Angry." Ashina said.

Jiraiya looked at Ashina with a healthy amount of worry. "That's normal. When you use the Kyuubi chakra some of the Kyuubi's emotions will leak out with it. It will only get worse when you use more of it."

Ashina looked over at his sister, who was still on the ground, "how much of it was a genjutsu? Is Mito okay?"

"Just the last part. Mito is fine, she should still be talking with her half of the Kyuubi," Jiraiya explained. The white haired toad sage walked over and placed a hand on Ashina's shoulder.

"I hope she's okay, the Kyuubi's really scary," Ashina said as he pulled the Kyuubi chakra back.

' _That's interesting. I didn't expect him to have so much control over the chakra so soon...'_

Inside Mito's mind:

" _ **Don't be scared Mito-chan,"**_ Said the giant fox, trying to coax the terrified little girl into a sense of comfort. " _ **I'm not going to eat you or anything. I just want to help you."**_

"How can you help me? Ashina is already dead! Jiraiya-sensei and Rin-san already betrayed us and let him die!" Mito shouted.

" _ **It's okay, Ashina is alive. It was all just a genjutsu to help you come here and meet me,"**_ the Kyuubi said. " _ **I would have dispelled the genjutsu right away, but until now I've had no way to contact you."**_

"Wh-what do you mean? Why would you want to help me?" Mito asked, her sniffles subsiding.

" _ **Well we share this body after all, it just makes sense for us to try to get along. The way I see it my power is yours to use however you see fit."**_ The Kyuubi's voice was deep and gravelly, but Mito couldn't hear any of the malice that she was warned about.

"So we're... friends?" Mito asked.

" _ **More than that Mito-chan. You and I are the same. I know what they say about me. They say I'm an evil hate filled monster, but I assure you that's not true. I only wish to help you."**_

"Then why did you attack the village the night I was born?" Mito asked.

" _ **I was being controlled by a man who calls himself Uchiha Madara."**_ the Kyuubi explained, " _ **That's why Jiraiya and Rin are training you to use my power right now, because Madara might return soon and they have to make sure you and Ashina are ready when he does."**_

"So... you'll help us when that happens?" Mito asked.

" _ **You can use my power for whatever you want."**_ The Kyuubi barred his teeth in what looked like a evil twisted smile, but Mito assumed that was just what the giant fox looked like when he smiled.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(rebel base, Mizu no Kuni)**_

Naruto and Itachi stopped at ramen stand in the village to get a bite to eat before heading back to their home. The ramen was good enough in Naruto's opinion, but not nearly as good as Ichiraku's.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I think ramen was a bad choice," Naruto said as they neared the house.

Itachi shrugged as he reached for the doorknob.

The two Konoha shinobi entered the house to find nobody home.

"That's weird," Itachi said.

"Not really. Yugito and Samui are out at the sushi bar right now. Karui is in her room if you're really that desperate for attention," Naruto said.

"So you knew they were out in town and didn't say anything?" Itachi said.

"What was I supposed to do? Go running directly to them? You know I don't want to do this!" Naruto said. "Besides, I have something I have to do before I talk to Samui. Just send her up to my room when they get back." Naruto made his way down the hall towards his bedroom, "Hey Kabuto," Naruto said, and right on que Kabuto opened the front door and entered the house.

"Hello Naruto-san," the white haired medic said. "Hello Itachi-san. I haven't seen very much of you two lately. At least not when you're conscious," Kabuto said with a friendly smile.

"That's true. How are things at the hospital?" Itachi asked, making his way to the living room.

"Not too good. There are too many casualties and not enough medics to take care of all of them," Kabuto explained. "Mei-sama has tasked me with the training of a medical corps but honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm not much of a teacher."

"So that's what's been keeping you at the hospital so late the past few months," Itachi asked, sitting down on the couch.

"Yes, and I have to be back in four hours so I'm going to get some sleep while I can," Kabuto made his way down to his room on the opposite side of the hallway as Naruto's.

Itachi laid his head back and stared at the ceiling. ' _I wish we had something to entertain us when there's nothing to do. Like a box with sound and moving pictures or something.'_ Itachi sighed and picked up a book from the coffee table. "'The Lusty Argonian Maid: Vol 1.'" Itachi read out loud, "what the hell is an Argonian?"

XXX END CHAPTER 26 XXX

So the most important thing that happened in this chapter was Ashina and Mito meeting the Kyuubi for the first time. Their experiences with the fox were both very different and I already have a good idea of how things are going to work out. I think it'll be interesting, but it's my imagination, I obviously find my own ideas interesting.

Sorry for putting off Naruto's decision between Samui and Ayame off even longer, but you'll know who he chooses next chapter for sure.

On top of that we also have the conclusion of Madara's plans in Konoha coming up, so stay tuned for that.

If you have any constructive criticism then let me know. If you love it or hate it feel free to review. I know I'm not a super good writer so your input is appreciated because it helps me improve the story and my writing abilities.


	27. Chapter 27: Coup D'etat

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 27: Coup D'etat

 _ **(wednesday night, rebel base, Mizu no Kuni)**_

"Come in," Naruto said from the spot on the floor he had chosen to lay down on.

The bedroom door creaked open and a beautiful blonde teenager walked in, "Itachi said you'd be in here."

"Yeah... we need to talk," Naruto said, sitting up into a cross legged position.

Samui walked over to the foot of Naruto's bed and took a seat to brace herself for the bad news. "So you've made your decision?"

"Yeah... I choose you," Naruto said, not looking up from the floor.

"You... You choose me?"

"I choose you," Naruto said, looking up from the floor to meet Samui's gaze. "I just finished the letter to Ayame and I'm sending it to Konoha first thing tomorrow."

"Do you still love her?" Samui asked quietly.

"What do you mean? I just told you that I chose you."

"But do you still love her?"

"I don't see what that has to do with anything," Naruto rebutted. "I chose you, I want to be with you."

"Yes, I heard that. But do. You. still. Love her?" Samui asked, emphasizing each word.

"I mean... yes... I love her... but... I thought this is what you wanted!" Naruto exclaimed, activating his portable silencing seal he kept on his thigh.

"It is! Or it was... I don't know," Samui stammered. "I don't want to have you if you're still in love with another girl! I mean you two have been apart for what? Two months? That's not nearly enough time for you to get over a girl you've known since you were 6!"

"Well what do you want from me?!" Naruto pleaded. "I've been going over it in my head nonstop and it keeps coming back to you!"

"That's not good enough!" Samui shouted. She felt like a little girl, outraged that a birthday present wasn't good enough. "I don't even have to think about it! If someone told me to choose between you and anyone else, I know exactly who I would choose! But you've been gone for three days _thinking_! How does it take you three days to _think_ about whether or not you want to be with me? I would understand if you chose Ayame; you've known her most of your life. You've claimed to be in love with her, but after just over 2 months you leave her for some girl you just met."

"Samui, you're not just _some girl_!" Naruto pleaded.

"And then you say you still love her!? How can I expect you to not do the exact same thing to me the moment you get back to Konoha? How do I know this isn't just some phase you're going through?" Samui couldn't imagine the Naruto she had come to know doing something like that to her, but he was doing it to another girl right before her eyes.

"You're the one who's making me choose!" Naruto blurted out without thinking.

"So you're saying this is my fault!?"

"No! I'm saying that I would have never considered leaving Ayame if I never met you." Naruto said after taking a moment to regain his composure.

"Just tell me why."

"Because, you can understand me in a way she can't." Naruto lowered his voice to somewhere between a whisper and a regular speaking voice. "She's been there for everything I've ever gone through, and I'm eternally in her debt for that, but she's never truly understood where I was coming from or why I felt the way I did."

It was common amongst those others considered to be geniuses. Nobody wanted to pull the 'misunderstood' cliche, but it was true to an extent, and Samui was no stranger to it herself. Although she wasn't a genius of the same caliber of Naruto and Itachi, but at the same time who was, she got her fair share of isolation.

Naruto got to his knees at the foot of his bed and took Samui's hands and looked her in her eyes. "Samui, I want to be with you. You're my dream girl."

"I don't know... I need some time to think about this."

"What is there to think about? The other night you told me you love me." Naruto said.

"I... I don't know how I feel! I know how I feel about you, but... I just need some time!" Samui got to her feet and stormed out of the bedroom.

"I don't understand girls at all," Naruto muttered.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Mei's office)**_

Zabuza thought it was best to leak some fake information to different sectors of the rebellion in order to narrow down the search. So far no fruits had come from that tactic. Unfortunately they couldn't stop sending shinobi out on missions, which the enemy always somehow managed to be prepared for. Over the past week five teams had been either killed in an ambush or captured by a quick reaction force ready to protect whatever the rebellion target was. The spy was quickly becoming their most dangerous foe, and Mei was ready to take more drastic measures.

"I want to start questioning the rebel forces. Make sure Naruto is there for the interrogations. Make sure the questions and answers are direct as possible," Mei said to Zabuza.

"How do we know Naruto isn't the spy?" Zabuza asked somewhat jokingly.

"Naruto came back from a mission with a 12 inch hole in his stomach. I'm pretty sure he's in the clear," Mei said.

"In that case, who else is in the clear?"

"Just to be safe, I want you to interrogate everyone else. Starting with me." Mei took a seat behind her desk. "Go get Naruto, you start immediately."

"Yes Mei-san!" Zabuza turned around and exited the office.

' _Hopefully we find the spy before Naruto is the only suspect left.'_ Mei thought. Although her logic was obviously flawed, considering the fact that if Naruto was the spy he could easily frame someone else, she had no option other than to be optimistic.

Zabuza returned with a sleepy looking Naruto ten minutes later. "Sorry we took so long Mei-san. Naruto here took his time getting ready."

"Yeah, that's my bad," Naruto said, accepting whatever blame was put on him, he was too tired for an argument.

"It's fine. Let's get started," Mei said.

"Very well. Are you a spy?" Zabuza asked.

"No."

The shirtless swordsman looked over at Naruto who shook his head, gesturing that she was not lying. "Do you have any knowledge of who the spy may be?" He followed up.

"I do not." Mei responded honestly.

Naruto, although he was sure Mei was not the spy Zabuza had told him about, remained attentive to the fluctuation of chakra that served as the tell tale sign of somebody lying. "She's telling the truth."

"Now Zabuza-san," Mei said, "it's your turn. Are you a spy?"

Zabuza was caught off guard momentarily before he too answered truthfully. "No I am not, and I have no knowledge of any spy that I have not already told you about. Which, admittedly, is not much."

Naruto gave a thumbs up to signify that Zabuza was also in the clear.

"Good. Now that that's cleared up I want you two to interrogate every member of the rebel forces. Naruto, we are going to assume your innocence for now; that is until we figure out a way to effectively clear your name without resorting to torture. Until then you will be with Zabuza-san at all times." Mei said.

"Well I can clear that up for you right now," Naruto said, producing a forearm sized sealing scroll from his trusty storage seal on his wrist. "Just give me a few minutes." Naruto bit his thumb, drawing blood, and began drawing kanji seals on the scroll.

Mei was mesmerized by the supreme skill Naruto appeared to have at this underappreciated art. Even Zabuza, who was looking on in feigned disinterest, couldn't help but be impressed. Naruto drew line after line of kanji with speed and grace. Naruto paused for a moment to unroll the scroll further and once again reopen the bleeding wound on his thumb.

"My fast healing makes writing blood seals kind of annoying," Naruto explained absently. After a few more minutes Naruto finished whatever it was he was creating. Naruto pulled a kunai from his supply pouch on his thigh and sliced his palm open. He slathered his whole palm in blood and slammed it down in the center of a dinner plate sized circular seal at the bottom of the scroll. "There. I'm not the spy."

"How exactly does that prove anything? All I see is a scroll full of your blood." Zabuza said.

"Go ahead and read it," Naruto said with a yawn before using a small suiton jutsu to clean the blood off his already healed hand.

Both Mei and Zabuza leaned over the scroll and began to read before both of their eyes widened.

' _I, Namikaze Naruto of the Uzumaki clan, swear, upon consequence of immediate death, that I am not a spy working against the Kiri rebellion. I, Namikaze Naruto of the Uzumaki clan, swear upon consequence of immediate death, that I have no knowledge of any espionage activity occurring against the Kiri rebellion aside from what has been divulged to me by Momochi Zabuza. I, Namikaze Naruto of the Uzumaki clan, swear, upon consequence of immediate death, that I will do everything within my power to find the spy, or spies, in question. I, Namikaze Naruto of the Uzumaki clan, swear, upon consequence of immediate death, that I will inform Terumi Mei, or my direct superior, of any information I happen to uncover.'_

Underneath the writing was what Mei, with her limited knowledge of fuinjutsu, recognized as a summoning contract.

"Why is there a summoning contract at the bottom?" Mei asked.

"That's not a summoning contract," Naruto explained. "It's the same type of principle seal, being a space time fuinjutsu, but this is a contract between me and the shinigami realm. My lifeforce will be transferred to the shinigami realm the moment I break this oath. That's why I has to be so specific with my name; damn that was annoying"

"What the HELL?!" Zabuza cursed. "I swear, every time you do something exceptional you turn around and do something completely idiotic!"

"What do you mean? This proves my innocence. If I was the spy I would have died immediately after completing the seal."

"Yes, but you just tied your life to the completion of this mission," Mei pointed out.

"I know; but if I don't succeed in this mission then everyone in the rebellion could die, myself included."

"Well there's no use scolding you about it now. It's already done." Mei said, massaging her temples trying to fend off the impending headache caused my Naruto's impulsive idiocy. "You two will be conducting your interrogations next door. I will send Ao and Juzo in momentarily, after they are cleared I will have them bring the suspects to you."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(thursday night, Konoha)**_

A sense of gut wrenching dread hung over the gathering of Uchiha forces led by Obito. The Uchiha who has been under the genjutsu refused to allow the ANBU to take out the Uchiha coup. The shame would fall on them alone. They were at fault for not putting a stop to the coup before it even has a chance to develop. The burden was theirs to bear, and all of them felt the weight on their shoulders.

All Uchiha who held a shinobi rank were there on both sides. All the elderly and children, along with the few who weren't shinobi, were all safe in the Konoha fallout shelter, or in the case of some, safe in the homes of close friends.

"This is a sad day," Obito said solemnly to the gathered forces. "It is a shame that it has come to this. We are all at fault for this black spot on the Uchiha history, and it is our responsibility to rectify our mistakes." All heads slowly nodded. "This is our fight. Brother against brother. Sister against sister." Obito paused and looked over the faces of the brave men and women who were gathered at his side. "Many of us have seen war, and we've all seen our fair share of death, but I'm sorry to say that no matter what we've seen in our lives this will without a doubt be the hardest thing any of us have ever done." Another round of slow, demoralized nods.

"You're not much of an inspirational speaker are you." Shisui muttered to Obito.

"I was getting to that," Obito muttered back. "Today we cleanse the honor of our clan. For too long there has been distrust between the Uchiha and Konoha. That ends today! We will defeat the would be usurpers and forge the bond that was meant to be had between our clan and this great village! Madara does not speak for the Uchiha! Nearly 100 years ago the Uchiha declared their independence from their fallen son, and today we honor their memory! We fight for those who fought and died to end the needless deaths of the clan wars! Madara wants death! Madara wants hate! That is _not_ the Uchiha way! Today we show the world what the _true_ Uchiha clan stands for!" There was a roar of cheers from a newly invigorated Uchiha fighting force. "We all know the plan, we all know our responsibilities, let's go forward and bring honor to the name Uchiha!" Obito turned around and took off towards the Uchiha clan compound, followed by a hoard of friendly clansmen and women.

"Not bad Sempai," Shisui said with a small smile.

"Really? I feel like it went a little too long," Obito replied.

"Just in the beginning. The beginning was kinda depressing." Shisui critiqued.

"I just hope I get the chance to work on it," the one eyed Uchiha said.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With Samui)**_

' _What am I thinking? Did I just panic? I mean, of course I want to be with him.'_ The blonde kunoichi laid in her bed staring up at the ceiling. She hoped to get some sleep to clear her mind, but her brain was too busy trying to shift through each and every thought that ran through her head. ' _Could I just be afraid of being happy? Maybe I just don't deserve him...'_ Samui stuck with that thought for a moment. ' _Does he intimidate me that much?'_

Samui got out of bed and headed to the kitchen for a midnight snack. She knew Zabuza came over and picked up Naruto so there was no chance of her accidentally bumping into him. ' _I must have sounded like a complete idiot. I was just babbling nonsense!'_ She couldn't get over the embarrassment she felt from her earlier conversation with the Namikaze prodigy.

"What are you doing up?" Asked a familiar, yet unexpected, voice.

Samui turned her head to look at the white haired medic sitting on the sofa. "Hello Kabuto," Samui said politely. "I couldn't sleep. What about you?"

Kabuto answered by holding up both hands, one with a book, the other with a mug of what Samui assumed to be coffee. "My shift at the hospital starts in a couple of hours, and I like to enjoy a few hours of peace before work," he said with a friendly smile. "Care to join me?"

Samui thought about it for a moment. Of the three Konoha jounin in Mizu no Kuni, Kabuto was the one she knew the least; in fact, as far as Samui could remember, the two had never even had a proper conversation. "Thank you, but I'm afraid I wouldn't make very good company right now."

Kabuto set down his book and his mug and walked over to the kitchen. Samui eyed him curiously as he poured another mug of coffee, "how do you take your coffee?"

"... Cream no sugar," Samui responded, deciding to finally accept the invitation to sit and talk.

"I know that coffee won't help you sleep, but I find that it helps me clear my mind," Kabuto said as he handed Samui the steaming mug and took his seat on the sofa. "What's troubling you?"

Samui felt awkward talking about this with someone she knew so little, but Kabuto seemed friendly enough. Besides, he was one of Naruto's best friends, if anyone could help her get her mid straight about the blue eyed shinobi it was him. "You know about me and Naruto?" Kabuto nodded, indicating that there was no need to explain any backstory. "Well, today he told me that he wants to break up with Ayame and be with me instead."

"And you feel like him breaking up with Ayame is like him violating his loyalty to her, and his loyalty is one of the things you like most about him,"Kabuto said.

"I guess that's part of it..." Samui was surprised by Kabuto's quick insight into the situation. "But there's more to it than that..."

"You feel inadequate compared to him," Kabuto said, not unkindly but matter of factly. Samui's face clearly showed a mixture of annoyance and surprise. "It's okay. It's not just you. Both Naruto and Itachi, no matter how kind they can be, have a way of making others feel small in comparison. Myself included." Kabuto took a sip from his mug. "When I first became their teammate I was intimidated by the fact that, even though I graduated the academy 3 years early, they were already far better than I was and they were two years younger. I felt weak compared to them until..." Kabuto's pause went unnoticed by Samui, "well I suppose I've never not felt weaker than them." Kabuto continued, "I just accepted the fact that I serve a different role than the two of them."

"Because you're a medic..." Samui said thoughtfully.

"That's part of it," Kabuto answered cryptically before explaining further. "I've known those two for the past 6 years, and if there's anything I've learned over that time it's that they need others far more than we need them."

"What do you mean by that?" Samui asked.

"It's no secret to you that geniuses tend to be alienated by their peers," Kabuto waited for Samui to nod. "They are widely loved throughout our village as 'the Pride of Konoha' but even with all the praise they receive very few people take the time to truly get to know them, and even fewer ever come to understand them." Realization spread across Samui's face as the meaning behind Naruto's words began to make more sense. "Ayame always loved Naruto for _who_ he was rather than _what_ he was, but, as much as I like her, she was never able to understand _what_ made him special." Kabuto adjusted his glasses, "that's why Naruto chose you over Ayame, Samui, because you truly see him for who he is."

"He's a human being..." Samui said, looking into the dark brown cup of steaming coffee. "Just like everyone else..."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Uchiha compound)**_

It was complete mayhem. They attacked the Uchiha shrine, where the members of the coup were gathered, but they were prepared. The enemy has a greater number of skilled shinobi, and the younger Uchiha were being slaughtered. In fact, if it wasn't for Obito and Shisui's presence the friendly Uchiha forces may have already been defeated.

A shuriken phased straight through Obito's neck, leaving him unharmed. Obito flung his hand out to his right and shot a kunai straight through the enemy's chest, killing him instantly. The same man Obito just killed reappeared in the same spot as before, only this time, with one eye black and cloudy.

"I see 'Madara' thought you all some neat tricks." Obito said with a sneer. It was the technique of the day; enemy Uchiha would die then use Izanagi to come back to life and kill their opponent the second time around. "Where is your _master_ at anyways?"

"That's none of your concern," the short brown haired Uchiha said.

"Have it your way. Let's see how well you can fight with one eye," Obito said in a dark tone.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Shisui)**_

"I can't stop any more of them," Shisui panted, crying tears of blood. "I can't even even keep my regular sharingan active." Shisui was on his knees clutching at his bloody face, desperately trying to ease the pain radiating from his cornea to the front of his brain. "I can hardly see, Izumi."

A young Uchiha kunoichi with long brown hair and a lavender sleeveless shirt stood to Shisui's left with a kunai at the ready. "I'll keep you safe Shisui-sempai!" The girl's two tomoe sharingan spun in her eye sockets as two older Uchiha shinobi closed in. "You've already done so much, leave it to me." Izumi had never truly seen combat apart from the occasional bandit raid, and it was horrible. ' _Sempai, you've been using kotoamatsukami all night to spare their lives. I'm not that strong, but I promise I'll do my part for the clan as well. I will protect you.'_

The enemy Uchiha rushed forward and began engaging the 13 year old genin with a blur of kunai gleaming in the ominous moonlight. Izumi was no match for either of them one on one, and with two of them ganging up on her and she having to protect Shisui, it was all she could do to not die from every slash of their kunai.

Izumi saw the tip of the knife coming straight towards her face, seemingly in slow motion. She couldn't react. She wasn't fast enough. ' _Itachi, I wish you were here.'_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With Itachi)**_

"Samui!? Yugito, get in here!" Itachi ran towards Samui, who was lying motionless on the livingroom floor. Her skin was deathly pale and her veins bulged and appeared to be black. "Samui, say something! Can you hear me?" Itachi opened her eyelid to check pupil responsiveness. "Yugito, turn on the light!"

"What's going on? Is she okay?" Yugito said with a hint of panic in her voice. Itachi looked into the open eye to find blood red sclera.

"I don't know, I just came in and found her this way." The puddle of lukewarm coffee soaked into Itachi's pants as he picked up the blonde teenage girl bridal style. "We have to get her to the hospital now!"

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With Shisui and Izumi)**_

Izumi stood still with eyes wide, holding a shallow breath.

The two Uchiha men dropped to the ground dead with a kunai plunged into each of their throats. "We have to move," Shisui panted with his hand outstretched, indicating the kunai were thrown by him.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Obito)**_

Yet another flurry of shuriken flew straight through him as Obito slit the throat of yet another enemy. Blood spurted from the man's carotid artery covering Obito's face and clothes in bright red metallic smelling liquid.

' _Maybe I should start using Kamui to phase through all this blood,'_ Obito thought as he spat out some of the blood that got his his mouth. "Whatever, I can't be wasting chakra right now anyways." That was the whole reason he wasn't using mokuton anyways. Obito threw a kunai at the man who threw the kunai through his head, then threw a second kunai anticipating the use of Izanagi and killing the man for the second time.

 _A sword slashing his forearms held up to defend himself. A heavy push kick sending him sailing through the wall of a nearby shop. A masked figure rushing towards a purple cheeked woman with a sword ready._

"Rin!" Obito got sucked into a black vortex centered around his eye.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Naruto and Zabuza)**_

It was so monotonous. Naruto was about to lose his mind. Over and over, time after time, it was the same questions. The same answers. The same lack of fluctuation in their chakra signatures. Naruto understood that this mission was of the utmost importance, and he remained attentive, but he was going insane with boredom.

"He's good," Naruto said with a thumbs up and the little glasses wearing blue haired kid walked out.

"You could have fooled me with how nervous the kid looked," Zabuza said with a slightly malicious chuckle.

"Up next we have Kabuto," Said Ao from the doorway as he checked the kids name off the list.

In walked in the purple clan konoha jounin, "Good morning Naruto-san, Zabuza-san," Kabuto said with a friendly smile.

"Good morning Kabuto. We have to ask you a couple of questions," Zabuza said. Kabuto nodded his head to imply consent. "Are you a spy?"

The question was followed a brief pause and Kabuto's eyes quickly darted over to Naruto who was absently looking at his forearm muscles contract as he wiggled his fingers. "Yes."

Zabuza's eyes shot wide open and Naruto's head whipped up as they processed what they'd just heard. Zabuza briefly looked over to Naruto to see if this was just some sick joke. It took one look at the blonde jounin for Zabuza to see that it wasn't a joke at all.

"Y-you're a wh-what?" Naruto stammered. "What do you mean you're a spy? You're spying on the rebellion? You're feeding information to Kiri? Why? What are you talking about?"

"I'm a spy. I've been leaking information to Kiri." Kabuto reiterated.

Zabuza pulled the twin swords from his back and took an attack stance. "For how long Kabuto? Why?"

"I've been a spy for as long as I can remember," Kabuto said with an unfamiliar smug smile. "Before this I was spying on Konoha. As for why... I don't know why... maybe it's just the rush I get from walking amongst the people I'm betraying."

Naruto was dumbstruck. He couldn't sense any chakra fluctuations indicating that Kabuto was being anything but truthful. "Why are you saying these things?"

"Why not? I've been made. There's no use denying it."

"Well, now you're going to die!" Zabuza rushed forward to cut Kabuto in half.

"I wouldn't act so rashly Zabuza-san. I have a contingency plan in effect," Kabuto said with the smug smile that seemed to come to his face so easily.

Naruto felt his heart drop to his stomach as he sensed the sinister intent radiating off one of his best friends. "Wh-what did you do?"

XXX END CHAPTER 27 XXX

So just so all you guys know, I'm moving this week so I won't be able to update the story for a while. I'm just glad I was able to finish the chapter before this weekend.

So anyways, the story. Kabuto is the spy! Wow, didn't see that coming. What will they do? What is this contingency plan Kabuto talked about? What just happened to Obito? Is Shisui going to survive? Find out next time!


	28. Chapter 28: Betrayal

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 28: Betrayal

Cold metal penetrated her eye socket. No matter how tight she tried so clench her eyelids shut the blade sliced through the thin layer of skin, burying itself into her cornea. Inch by inch it slid deeper until it reached the optic nerve, then it stopped.

Obito emerged from a black swirl and grasped Madara's wrist into a vice like grip, preventing the blade from penetrating any further. Obito didn't waste any time checking on Rin's condition. She was alive and that's the best he could hope for at the moment.

Black metal blades splintered from Madara's arm, forcing Obito to use Kamui to phase through the counter. Obito push kicked Madara hard in the stomach, sending him flying down the now deserted street.

Obito wasted no time charging forward to engage Madara once more. Obito threw punch after punch and kick after kick, which Madara disrupted by maneuvering weapons in the way to block, and time after time Obito was forced to phase through the weapons to avoid losing a limb. Obito leapt back and threw a handful of shuriken that were easily deflected by Madara's telekinetic control over his unique looking blades. The shuriken continued their path around the masked man and with a tug of his arms the thin wire connected to the star shaped projectiles tightened around the Madara imposter. Yet more blades splintered off Madara's body, slicing clean through the chakra infused wire.

"So you were supposed to be me," Madara said in a deep rumbling voice. "I have to say, I expected more."

"You haven't seen anything yet," Obito growled.

If it wasn't for the mask covering his face Obito would have seen a cruel smile contorting his features. "I see... You don't want the village to suffer the collateral damage from our battle." Slowly the strange looking blades splintered off Madara's entire body, "or is it your friends here that you're trying to protect? Because if that's what you're worried about I can take them off your mind for you." The blades shot out directly towards a still stunned Rin and a immobilized Kakashi. Just a split second before Obito's two closest friends were torn apart by Madara's attack a wooden dome encased them individually.

Obito held his hands clapped together in a snake seal with a murderous look in his eye. "Don't you _dare_ threaten my friends or my village," he said in a dark tone.

"Tch tch tch," Madara chided. "You sure have grown quite a bit since I last saw you Obito. Too bad you gave up your other sharingan; if you hadn't you might stand a chance against me."

"No matter what you say, you're still the one who went on to become Madara's puppet. I could never lose against someone who would betray their own village and force their own clan to exterminate each other."

"Obito, Obito, Obito," Madara said in a pandering tone. "This coup is your fault. If you would have put the clan above this pathetic village instead of running around seeking the approval of these outsiders then you could have stopped any of this from ever taking place." The blades began to spin in the air, causing the ominously silent Konoha street to be filled with the sound of blades beating against the still night air.

Obito took note of the location of every blade, but even with a Mangekyou sharingan it was impossible to predict their trajectory when they were being controlled by Madara's telekinetic power.

The cyclopic Uchiha rushed forward, evading each blade as it came, and pressed Madara back with a blur of taijutsu. It seemed as if, even while engaging in a taijutsu battle, Madara maintained full control over his weapons. Obito produced a chain from his sleeve and began using the metal links as a whip to deflect the endless onslaught of spinning projectiles, while continuing his active engagement against his enemy.

A blade shot down, directly through Obito's body, phasing all the way through him from the crown of his skull down through his leg, planting itself firmly into the hard pavement. Obito released one end of the chain, which whipped around Madara's neck, and yanked on it with all his might. As Madara stumbled forward Obito produced a wooden spike out of his left foot and turned his hips in order to drive the spike straight through Mandara's skull.

Madara reached up and grabbed the chain. In one fluid motion Madara spun and dropped straight to the ground, back first, evading the heavy roundhouse and wrapped the chain around Obito's ankle. Another spinning blade shot straight down to sever Obito's leg at the knee, but at the last moment Obito used Kamui to phase through the blade once again and free his ankle from the chain.

With the grip the chain has on his neck slackened due to the closed distance Madara slipped out of the leash and sent every one of his strange looking blades barreling straight down at Obito.

"That Mangekyou ability of yours is starting to get annoying," Madara grunted after regaining some distance. "But by the looks of it I'd say continuous use puts quite a bit of strain on you."

Obito stood, chain in hand, panting with a single tear of blood dripping out of his one full eye socket. He was nearing his limit. By his own estimation he could only continue fighting for another 5 minutes. Another long, arduous 5 minutes. Despite all that happened, their exchange thus far had only lasted about a minute. ' _There's plenty of time left. And I've barely used mokuton at all,'_ Obito thought. He was still holding off on using his final ace in the hole, at least for the most part, because of the enormous drain it took on his chakra. Even with Hashirama's cells, using a bloodline that wasn't your own took a huge toll.

Madara stood, not looking worn out in the slightest, taking stock of the current situation. "You're going to have to show me more than that if you want to see what I'm truly capable of," He taunted. Blood trickled from his eyes beneath the mask, but thanks to some of Orochimaru's 'modifications' the use of his mangekyou sharingan was much easier than it normally would have been. "It occurs to me that you haven't asked me about my real identity yet."

"I'll have plenty of time for that when I rip that mask of yours off your bleeding corpse," Obito barked before going through a string of hand seals. "Moku Bushin no Jutsu! (Wood clone technique)" Two Obito's grew off the original, producing a metal chain of their own. ' _I've just cut my time in a third, but three of me should be able to kill him in a minute and forty seconds.'_

"Now that's more like it!" Madara exclaimed. "Now I can rightfully show you _why_ you never stood a chance against me to begin with!" Madara's sharingan spun wildly as an ethereal blue skeleton grew to existence around him. The skeleton then grew what appeared to be muscle fibers, followed by a set of samurai armor.

"Susanoo..." Obito whispered as he looked at the ethereal armor clad samurai around the Madara imposter.

"This shouldn't surprise you," Madara taunted. "You've known about this technique since you read the inscription on the Uchiha shrine with your mangekyou sharingan."

Ethereal blades began to splinter off the Susanoo the same way they did off of Madara, until Madara was surrounded by no less than 30 chakra blades hovering around him. Every blade was pointed in the direction of Obito and his wood clones. The night was silent, not even a slight breeze to break the silence as Obito looked up at his imminent demise.

Never in his life had Obito saw something so overwhelmingly powerful, aside from the Kyuubi itself but even then he was fighting it alongside Rin, Jiraiya, and Tsunade. Obito was brought out of his stunned paralysis by the sound of a ear splitting screech and what could have been mistaken as the chirping of a thousand birds. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kakashi dashing directly towards Madara within his Susanoo. If it weren't for the mangekyou sharingan in his right eye Obito would have only been able to make out a single streak of blinding white-blue light, but instead he saw every stray spark of lightning jumping off the raikiri in Kakashi's hand. He saw his other mangekyou sharingan active and spinning within Kakashi's eye socket.

Kakashi, with his speed enhanced by the lightning chakra coursing through his chakra network, weaved through the blue chakra blades being shot at him. Kakashi ducked under one blade and vaulted over another spinning blade directly behind the first. In the air Kakashi was unable to react as the spinning propeller beneath him shattered, shooting a hail of chakra senbons directly up at him. The chakra senbon tore through Kakashi's body until the copy ninja disappeared in a puff of smoke revealing a log in his place.

Behind the Susanoo the streak of white light continued to dart straight ahead. Obito and his two clones wasted no time launching an attack of their own. The three Obito's darted forward, taking advantage of the distraction, and shot wooden vines out of each hand. All six vines entangled themselves around the Susanoo, preventing the giant chakra monster from moving its arms to defend itself.

Kakashi dodged another barrage of chakra blades until he was just several yards away from Madara's Susanoo. Kakashi's left eye spun wildly, and a spinning black void appeared on the center of the Susanoo's back. Kakashi rushed forward, directly at the distortion which soon vanished along with a gaping hole in the ethereal samurai's armor. The armor began to quickly repair itself, but not fast enough to stop the ANBU captain from breaching the plane and plunging his lightning clad hand directly into Madara's face.

Obito watched in horror as Madara's hand shot up, snatching Kakashi's wrist the moment the raikiri made contact with his mask. Out of Madara's other sleeve shot a black machete like blade which pierced straight through the center of Kakashi's chest and out through his back.

Kakashi was lifted off the ground by the blade. His eyes were wide, pupils miniscule, as he looked into the eyes of the man who called himself Madara. The last remnants of the mask crumbled to the ground revealing a familiar, yet slightly burnt face. Kakashi's blood began to soak through his ANBU armor, and blood poured out of his left eye. His black half mask became noticeably damp as blood began to spill out of his mouth from the internal bleeding.

The man holding him off the ground scoffed and threw the limp body to the side. "Sharingan Kakashi. I have to admit, he uses it well, but the power of the sharingan was wasted on a non Uchiha."

"You..." Obito began to shake as he looked at the face of the man he had once called senpai. "You were supposed to _kill_ him, not _join_ him!" The wooden vines that were wrapped around the blue Susanoo tightened, putting visible strain on the samurai armor. "We thought you had died!" Cracks began to form, "you were like an older brother to me!"

The face of Uchiha Fugaku remained impassive. "I was never a brother to you. You were my wife's adopted brother, that's all." The armor on the susanoo's arms caved in beneath the immense preassure.

"What about Itachi!? What would he think!?" Obito shouted. His voice changed from one of confusion and disbelief into one of pure rage.

"Itachi will join me." Fugaku said simply. "Along with his Namikaze teammate."

Obito gritted his teeth as he found his second wind within his rage. The wooden vines around the Susanoo tightened further, "you will never take them." Obito said with a grimace of exertion. "They are my students! This is my village! This is my clan! You can't have any of them!" Obito shouted as the Susanoo's chest plate caved in slightly from the pressure.

"Your students... I already have one," Fugaku said with a slight grin. "Your village... look around, Obito, I've already laid waste to it twice. And as they say, third time's the charm." Fugaku looked around at the streets which now looked like nothing short of a warzone for as far as the eye could see. "As for your clan. I turned half of it against you and pitted both sides against each other. Yes my side lost, thanks to Shisui's efforts, but he should be blind by now, considering how much he used Kotoamatsukami. But there's not much of an Uchiha clan left, and for those who are left, the cycle of hatred will no doubt continue until it ultimately destroys this village of yours."

"You won't have it your way! I'm going to kill you and the world will never turn out the way you want it to!"

A sinister grin spread across Fugaku's face as he pulled his arms in and shot all the chakra blades in, slicing the the wooden vindes into little forearm sized segments. With unfathomable speed the blades shot towards Obito and his two clones who passed through them using Kamui.

Blood poured out of Obito's eye. His muscles were exhausted and stiff. His whole body ached from the long night of nonstop fighting. His mind was anything but clear, thoughts raced through his head at light speed. He didn't know what Rin's condition was, he didn't know if Kakashi was alive or not, hell, he didn't even know what the status of the coup over at the Uchiha compound was. Every thought racing through his mind ran directly to the worst case scenario, and his mind kept being drawn to his student, Itachi. What would he do when he found out his own father was Konoha's greatest enemy. Obito was confident that Itachi would never willingly join anyone who desired the villages' destruction, but without the mangekyou sharingan there was no way he'd be able to fight off the genjutsu Fugaku used on the rest of the clan. "Why are you doing this?" Obito asked. He had no viable options to attack, he was almost completely out of chakra. All he could do is stall and hope that someone came along to help him. Even Kamui was becoming a great struggle to use, his eye was bleeding profusely and it took everything he has to keep the mangekyou sharingan active.

"Stalling huh? There's no use in doing that, Minato and Jiraiya, essentially anyone who can help you, are occupied at the moment," Fugaku sneered.

"What do you mean?" Obito said before he heard a deafening explosion from the hokage tower.

"That is none of your concern at the moment," Fugaku said. "But I will tell you what happened in the mountain graveyard, if you really want to know."

 _Flashback:_

"Stay on your guard," said a man with shaggy brown hair, overgrown canines, and Inuzuka clan markings on his cheeks. A large black dog let out a low growl from several feet in front of them.

"Obviously we should be on our guard," Fugaku grumbled, "this man is the most powerful Uchiha in history, there's no way we will be able to simply waltz in there and kill him without one hell of a fight."

"You and your damn clan, Fugaku. I know the Uchiha are powerful and all, but you seriously overestimate your own abilities," said the Inuzuka jounin.

"Enough you two," said Orochimaru as he held out his open palm on the ground, allowing a white snake to slither up his sleeve. "We're almost there," he said with a smile.

After another 20 minutes of trekking through the caverns they found themselves at a dead end. Fugaku stepped forward and inspected the wall, "it's right past here," he said taking several paces back.

"I'll take care of it," said a long haired Akimichi. His fist grew to the size of a refrigerator and he punched the hard rock wall in his way. The wall gave way but left the Akimichi cradling his hand which was no doubt broken.

"If you would have waited 2 seconds I would have told you the wall was reinforced with chakra," Fugaku said as he walked through the new entrance to a massive atrium.

"Welcome, Konoha shinobi," said an old decrepit man sitting on what looked to be a wooden throne. The man looked absolutely pitiful with his shaggy unkempt hair and his oversized clothes. What stood out to Fugaku and Orochimaru most, however, was the white vines that extended from his back and connected to a massive flower bud behind the wooden throne. The elderly Madara stood up from his throne and slowly hobbled over to the four Konoha shinobi. Madara's three tomoe sharingan fixated on Fugaku and a smile crept across his wrinkled face.

Orochimaru darted towards the legendary Uchiha with his hand extended straight out towards his eyes. Madara simply glanced at the snake user which was enough to cause Orochimaru to collapse on the ground and lay there motionless.

The Akimichi and the Inuzuka rushed forward to back up their team leader only to receive wooden spikes through their chests'.

Madara walked towards Fugaku, both pairs of sharingan locked in a staring contest. "Yes. You're the one," Madara said.

"What do you mean?" Fugaku asked, ready to defend himself against the clearly superior Uchiha.

"You are the one who will continue my work and uphold my legacy," Madara said, turning around and walking back towards his throne. "Come, we have much to talk about."

"We have nothing to talk about!" Fugaku said, throwing a handful of shuriken and kunai at the old man. Madara moved his body, just slightly enough to dodge the onslaught of weapons and continued on his way.

"You're no match for me. Even as an old man, I am more powerful than you can even imagine," Madara said confidently.

"That doesn't matter! Even if I die I will die trying to complete my mission!" Fugaku spat.

"Yes, the Hokage's mission. Let me tell you about the Hokage's mission," Madara pulled a kunai out of his throne and took a seat. "The Shodaime, Hashirama, was a great man. Together we united the Uchiha and the Senju and founded Konoha. But as you know, our differing ideologies led to me defecting from Konoha and facing off one last time against my old friend."

Fugaku, well aware that continuing the fight was futile, walked over and stood before the old man and listened to him regale the stories of his past. Madara wanted something from him, and if he could somehow refuse him that desire and walk away with his life he would consider that a victory.

"Hashirama believed that peace would be achieved through mutual understanding. That the once clans, now villages, could broker everlasting peace through negotiation and friendship. What a fool," he spat, "as long as one side believes it is more powerful than the other they will always fight to meet their own ends. Hashirama never saw that. Together, we held all the power. We could defeat anybody in our way and mold the world to our liking. We could ensure peace so nobody would have to needlessly sacrifice their lives. Then he was named the Shodaime Hokage; granted he didn't want that power, Hashirama wanted to remain equals. But the village wanted their figurehead. Hashirama tried to bestow the title onto me, but the clan heads wouldn't have it. Hell, the Uchiha wouldn't have it. Without me the Uchiha wouldn't even exist anymore! If it wasn't for me Hashirama and his damned brother would have wiped out our entire clan, and what do they do to thank me!? They throw me away to become Konoha's lapdogs! They chose to take a knee and beg for scraps from the Senju. The Uchiha clan has never been the same powerful and prominent clan since before the foundation of Konoha."

Fugaku couldn't help but agree with what Madara was saying. The clan has always been seen as pariahs for as long as he could remember. At the academy the students would keep their distance, on shinobi teams they were always treated with indifference. If it wasn't for their skill in battle the clan would have been completely written off in the village. Perhaps it was because of their skill in battle that they were kept by the wayside.

"They fear my second coming," Madara said as if he had read Fugaku's mind. "As long as the world remembers the name Uchiha, they will forever think of the power I possess, and they will fear it. People always desire the destruction of the thing that can destroy them. That or they want to control it." Madara narrowed his eyes as if he were scrutinizing Fugaku. "What do you think Konoha has done with the Uchiha?"

Fugaku was taken off guard by the question. The Uchiha comprised the Konoha police force, the segment of the village that did not leave Konoha. Aside from having a clan head who sat on the village counsel the Uchiha clan had no members holding positions higher than Jounin, regardless of the plethora of qualified shinobi. "They control us..." Fugaku said, coming to the realization that he'd been under the villages thumb for over three decades.

"And how has Konoha's ideology of peace fared since the foundation of the village?" Madara asked.

"Three shinobi world wars," Fugaku said, coming to yet another realization.

"And how do we end this cycle of hatred and needless deaths? How do we free our clan from the clutches of the very organization that has held it hostage for nearly a century?" Madara continued.

Fugaku didn't have the slightest idea.

"Control."

 _End Flashback_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Minato)**_

Minato tried to use the hiraishin to make his way into the sky to take out the aerial bomber, but every time he threw a kunai it was blown straight out of the air. ' _How do I stop him if I can't even reach him?'_ Minato thought as he grew more and more frustrated. His ANBU were currently evacuating the village into the fallout shelters and Jiraiya and Tsunade were occupied fighting another threat. ' _What the hell is going on!?'_

Suna was on their way from the west in large numbers. For whatever reason they had decided to attack Konoha, their allies, on the same night Konoha had chosen to stamp out the Uchiha coup. The situation at hand was too bad to be a mere coincidence.

The man in the sky was far worse than a mere pest. The bomber was turning Konoha into a wasteland, and he was enjoying it too. "Witness my art, yeah!" He shouted gleefully.

Minato's nostrils flared and his pupils dilated as he watched a full wing of the Konoha hospital disappear in a violent explosion. Minato launched countless hiraishin kunai directly in the air with a snarl. Once he flashed to one kunai he would repeat the same process. From the ground it looked as if the stars beyond the smoky night sky were exploding and vanishing in an instant.

In under a second Minato traveled hundreds of feet in the air, leaving a series of exploded kunai in his wake. "Rasengan!" Minato yelled, driving a large spiraling sphere of chakra into the belly of the giant white bird carrying the mad pyromaniac.

"You want to see my art up close, yeah!?" The blonde bomber said excitedly, leaping off his now flightless bird.

Minato's eyes widened as he watched the bird began to expand. Just in the nick of time he flashed away to an unexploded kunai falling to the ground. Again, Minato set to chasing down the, now free falling, bomber.

"Oh, you're fast, yeah!" The Iwa missing nin said. "But are you fast enough to save your village?" Deidara spun 180 degrees so his front was facing the earth hundreds of feet below and began expelling a massive amount of white clay from his mouth.

It was Minato's chance to kill the bomber who had already ravaged his village, but knowing what he already did about the clay, even with that amount, which was already larger than the bird had been, it would obliterate a full district if he didn't stop it. Minato let out a snarl of frustration and with all his might he flung a tri pronged kunai straight down at the village.

Clay continued to spew out his mouth. The clay monstrosity grew larger and larger and soon began to take shape.

Minato flashed to the ground, directly under the giant clay structure, and with a tri pronged kunai in hand, began going through a complex set of hand seals with mastery that only the most accomplished shinobi could possibly possess. "Hiraishin: Dourai! (Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder)" The seal on the hilt of the kunai spread away from the the three prong kunai and painted themselves on the air. The gargantuan clay statue, which now held the form of a cartoonish Deidara, made contact with the seal which began to warp around it.

"Time for me to get out of dodge, yeah," Deidara said with a smile, spewing white clay from his hands to form another bird which he mounted. Deidara flew off to a safe distance, unawares of the space-time jutsu being used to ruin his masterpiece. After all, the art was the explosion.

The statue continued to sink into the hole Minato created in space until all that was visible was the head.

"What!? Oh hell no! You will not ruin my masterpiece, yeah!" Deidara shouted from miles away. Making a hand seal the statue began to swell, similar to the rest of his explosives before detonation.

' _He likes explosions more than Naruto,'_ Minato thought before creating three kage bushin which surrounded the exposed explosive head at four equally spaced corners. "Shisekiyojin (Ninpo: Four Crimson Ray Formation)" all four Minato's said simultaneously making a ram seal. Almost in sync, the red walls of the barrier technique and the explosion of the exposed clay bomb went off.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With Tsunade and Jiraiya)**_

Two of the three legendary sanin stood atop the heads of each of their legendary summons. Ahead of them was an army of Suna shinobi. Behind them a village burning to ash.

"What the hell is going on?" Tsunade muttered. "Jiraiya, can you and your summons handle this?" She said, thinking of the lives dwindling behind her.

"No," he responded, "but if you're asking if it's okay for lady Katsuyu to go heal the villagers that's fine. But I can't handle this without your Byakugou no Jutsu."

"Lady Katsuyu, do what you can for the villagers. I'll send my chakra when I have the chance."

"Yes Tsunade-sama, I will do my best." The enormous slug split into thousands of smaller versions of herself before retreating into the burning village.

With purple ribbon-like markings spreading from the diamond shaped seal on her forehead and wrapping itself around her neck and down her bosom, Tsunade hopped to the ground and clenched her fists into a pair of tight white balls as she watched the Suna shinobi charging towards the village followed by a wave of sparkling gold dust.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With Naruto)**_

"Kabuto. What are you talking about?" Naruto asked again, growing increasingly impatient with Kabuto's sneer.

"I knew this day was coming, so I got an insurance policy."

"You said that already. What insurance policy," Naruto said grinding his teeth.

Kabuto started walking forward, activating his curse seal and flaring his now immense chakra as he made his way towards the door. "Follow me."

"Stop right there Kabuto!" Zabuza yelled, brandishing his two twin swords and blocking the door.

With one swift flick of his wrist Kabuto lashed out with his water whip and slashed Zabuza across the face, sending him hurtling through the wall separating them from Mei's office.

"Kabuto, STOP!" Naruto shouted, flaring his own chakra, leaking out some killing intent. "Tell me what's going on! We're friends! Why are you doing this!? What the hell are you doing!?"

"Friends?" Kabuto said with a wicked laugh. "I've been a spy since before I've known you, Naruto-san. I was _pretending._ " He said, eyeing the blonde from the edge of his circle rimmed glasses.

"Just tell me why..." Naruto said, steeling his nerves.

"I'm not sure that's how Samui would want you to be prioritizing this time," Kabuto said, his grin spreading from ear to ear.

"Samui? What did you do to Samui!?" Naruto said, reaching out and grasping Kabuto's throat in an iron grip.

"Poison," Kabuto said, as if his trachea wasn't currently being crushed. The only indication that he was in any kind of discomfort was his simple one word answer.

Naruto lifted the white haired spy off the ground and slammed him through the floor. The floor shattered beneath them and the two and they went crashing down to the first floor.

"I'm not sure you want to be fighting me right now," Kabuto said from within the pile of debris.

Naruto slammed his fist into Kabuto's face, actually causing Kabuto a fair amount of pain. Kabuto, enraged by the attack along with the tainted chakra coursing through his chakra network, threw his own fist into the side of Naruto's jaw eliciting a loud crack.

Naruto crashed through a load bearing wall which caused a section of the second floor to collapse on top of him.

"Now you've pissed me off, Naruto-san." Kabuto said, climbing back to his feet. The black markings tattooed on his body spread across his other half, then slowly his skin turned an ashen grey. Kabuto's white hair grew longer and wilder. His canines grew slightly longer and his fingernails sharpened and turned black. Kabuto's iris's turned a bright yellow and his sclera turned black. But most shocking of all, two great hand like wings ripped through the back of his shirt and spread to cover the the majority of the room.

Naruto clambered out of the rubble, his eyes narrowed and teeth bared. "Who are you?" He growled.

"The real Kabuto." He answered with equally as menacing growl. Kabuto reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of blue liquid and held it up for Naruto to see. "This was her last chance, and your normal impulsive behavior threw it away." Kabuto crushed the vial in his hand, blue liquid along with a small amount of blood dripped from his hand.

XXX END CHAPTER 28 XXX

Okay, so I finished moving and I have internet and stuff again, so I can continue writing and posting chapters.

I've figured out where I want to take things. I'm excited.


	29. Chapter 29: Sunrise

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 29: Sunrise.

 _ **(Konoha fallout shelter)**_

The surviving civilians, elderly, and the children were safe, but rumors of a Suna army, led by the Kazekage himself, attacking from the west was starting a panic. Sarutobi Hiruzen and the available jounin had left to reinforce Tsunade and Jiraiya while the ANBU headed out to clean up whatever was left with the Uchiha coup.

That left Kushina in charge of the shelter. She wanted nothing more than to be out there with the rest of the Konoha elite fighting off the villages attackers, but her place was here.

In the corner with her elder siblings, Ume was crouched down, tears streaming down her face. The minute redhead hugged her knees and drew out every bit of Naruto's chakra from the seal that she could. To her left was Konohamaru, crouched down by her side trying his best to comfort the youngest Namikaze.

On the opposite side of the cramped corridor the gennin were huddled up with scowles marring their young faces. They had pleaded with the sandaime Hokage to go with him and the elder shinobi to go forth and defend the village, but Sarutobi refused, spouting his 'will of fire' speech that everyone had heard dozens of times but never truly understood.

The chunin all served in whatever capacity they could, whether it be as guards, medical assistants or general servants. Kushina was impressed by their maturity, willingness to follow orders, and ability to adapt in a crisis. ' _This is the future of Konoha,'_ she thought to herself, however she was disturbed by the sight of the few remaining Uchiha shunned and ostracized in the far corner of the dimly lit atrium. Those bonds would not heal for some time to come.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With Obito)**_

"I... I don't believe it..." Obito muttered. "You _willingly_ joined him!? You were the clan head! Everything you did in the war? There was a do not engage order on you! You were the best among us! You were 'Wicked eye Fugaku'!"

"I _am_ wicked eye Fugaku," he corrected. "Now, please explain to me how it is that despite all the Uchiha have done for this village, despite the fact that every generation there is an Uchiha who stands above the rest, whose power rivals, or even surpasses, that of the Hokage, and not once in Konoha's history has even one Uchiha even been _considered_ to become the Hokage? I never had high aspirations for myself, I never wanted to be Hokage. I simply wanted to serve the clan and the village, but my power rivaled Minato's and Orochimaru's. I had feats comparable to theirs, but when the time came nobody ever thought to throw the name of an Uchiha into the conversation. At the time I didn't mind. It bothered the rest of the clan but I put their worries to rest. But I realize now that only an Uchiha can bring about change to this world that we live in. Only one with the right eyes can see what needs to be done, and only I have the stomach to do it."

Obito was exhausted and almost completely depleted of chakra. His willpower alone was the only thing preventing him from collapsing under his own weight. Obito clenched his fist with all his might, barely enough to crumble a cracker. He was out of tricks, he was out of chakra, and now he was out of time. Even using kamui one more time would be enough to drain his remaining chakra and put him into chakra exhaustion. His red three tomoe sharingan faded into his natural coal colored eyes as he glared daggers at his enemy.

"So that's it," said Fugaku, looking rather disappointed. Granted the battle has taken a lot out of him as well, he was somewhat enjoying himself. A single blade shot out of the Susanoo's body and pierced straight through Obito's chest.

The pain didn't even phase him. Obito, held up by the chakra blade through his chest and into the ground, didn't even cough up the blood that filled his lungs and mouth. His head simply dropped forward as his jaw went slack, allowing a waterfall of crimson liquid to spill from his mouth.

"Now to the matter at hand," Fugaku turned to face the wooden dome that encased his primary target. He held out his hand, causing his Susanoo to do the same, and prepared to send a hail of chakra blades to destroy the protective dome.

There was an audible pulse, muffled, but powerful all the same. Fugaku flinched from the sheer power he felt radiating from the spot he was aiming at. Even without his dojutsu active he would have been able to see the red chakra seeping out of the cracks of the green wood. The steaming chakra grew darker and more potent the more the mokuton jutsu tried to suppress it, and before long the wood began to crack and shutter.

The chakra darkened further into a deep blood red as it's suffocating power seeped into the very atmosphere itself.

Fugaku felt a large buildup of chakra launched his attack as quickly as he could. Despite the fact that the Sanbi was one of the weakest Biju, one of the legendary beasts was not to be taken lightly.

The wood dome splintered and shattered, sending wooden shrapnel shooting at untraceable speeds in every direction, except in the direction of the dying Uchiha cyclops.

Where the dome once stood was a red turtle like shape with white eyes, a protruding jaw and three stubby tails flowing behind it. It was an incomplete transformation, but it appeared that Rin had given into the Biju's influence.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With Naruto and Kabuto)**_

Naruto had never in his life been so blindingly furious. He gave in to every ounce of hate he could muster, and his fighting style showed it. His attacks were wild and destructive, the collateral damage was immense. Kabuto smiled at the destruction he had caused due to triggering Naruto's rage. In truth the cure for Samui's poison did not exist. What he crushed was merely colored water meant to make Naruto believe that there was a hope to saving Samui. But Naruto's rage has blinded him from all reason.

Naruto's Mokuton jutsu, despite being crude and unrefined due to his lack of any real training in his kekkei genkai, seemed to react to the Namikaze's rage. What would have normally become a tranquil forest, much like the ones often depicted in children's stories, was now a twisted tangled mess of wild roots and dark brown, leafless branches. The sight was disturbing. It was like something out of a nightmare. A decimated town, overgrown with foreboding, ominous looking trees, with the broken, misshapen bodies of men and women strewn throughout.

Although Naruto did his best to protect the other rebel forces from both Kabuto's jutsu and his own, the task had proved impossible. Kabuto, with his dark chakra and seemingly unquenchable thirst for blood, was too strong for the blonde jounin to fight and protect his comrades. Kabuto appeared to enjoy every second of the mayhem surrounding him, using the most destructive means possible, and even going as far as to use others as human shields.

Not long after their battle began the streets began to stir. Shinobi at the ready hurried out of their quarters expecting an invasion, and what they found wasn't far off. Confusion reigned supreme, and the sick bastard that was Kabuto took advantage of this and slaughtered dozens at a time before they even got their wits about them.

Through his rage Naruto could sense Samui's wavering strength. She was all but lost, and the way he was fighting was not getting him anywhere. Naruto swallowed his rage, and through gritted teeth took a breath to regain his composure. ' _Control yourself,'_ he scolded, ' _this way of fighting isn't making anything any better. You need to calm down and fight rationally!'_ The blonde beat down his emotions as if it were someone other than himself. Reaching his right hand down to his other wrist he unsealed Odenta; channeling wind chakra through the black steel Naruto analyzed Kabuto with piercing, critical eyes. ' _He looks just like the other one,'_ he thought, thinking back to his last run in with this foul chakra. ' _I can't afford to lose control. He's too strong for that now.'_

Kabuto's eyes met Naruto's. Glee stared into the face of rage. "Can you kill me, Naruto?" Kabuto taunted. There was an icy cheer in Kabuto's question. "You swore to protect your _friends,_ after all."

"You said yourself that we aren't friends." Naruto hissed back, edging towards the winged monster before him.

"I've known you for too long, Naruto," Kabuto's wings slowly unfurled like a cobra spreading its hood, "to believe that you truly think that."

"It's pretty clear. You betrayed our village, you betrayed team 5, you betrayed _us!_ " Naruto's grip was like a vice on the hilt of his blade as his rage began to bubble up yet again.

Kabuto smiled as he looked into the wild blue inferno within Naruto's cerulean eyes. It was quite a sight to see how expressive the blonde's eyes were. A frantic mixture of hurt, betrayal, confusion, sorrow, and... there it was... _hate._ "Then kill me," Kabuto challenged, coating both hands in a ghastly purple chakra, letting off an off putting humm.

The ground gave way beneath his feet as Naruto propelled himself towards one of his oldest friends, ready to coat the streets in his blood. Naruto swung Odenta at Kabuto's throat, but missed as his massive wings flapped and launched him backwards.

Naruto charged once again, swinging Odenta with blinding ferocity. He ducked a swipe at his shoulder from Kabuto's chakra covered hand, countering with a sweep to the legs. Kabuto easily sidestepped this and thrusted his hand down at Naruto's torso. Naruto kicked Kabuto in the elbow, forcing the strike to land over his head and quickly formed a Rasengan with he thrusted at Kabuto's stomach.

Kabuto kicked up his knee into Naruto's forearm, redirecting the rasengan into his left wing, which he swiftly brought down to block with. Kabuto grit his teeth as the spiraling ball of chakra tore his wing to shreds. No matter, his fighting style didn't suit flight anyways. With one hand on the stone road over Naruto's blonde locks, and a spiraling ball of chakra twisting him around as it was, Kabuto pushed off of the attack with his injured wing, using his planted hand as a pivot point, and spun over Naruto's head so they were face to face, each upside down to the other. Kabuto shot his left hand down at Naruto's throat.

The blonde rolled to the side, avoiding a killing blow, but grimacing from the pain caused by the torn muscles in his shoulder from making brief contact with the violet chakra. Ignoring the pain, Naruto made a hand sign, and wooden spikes shot out of the ground, impaling Kabuto through his hands and feet.

Kabuto yelled out in pain as he ripped his hands and feet free to narrowly avoid a killing blow from a wind enhanced Odenta.

Both jounin stood apart once more. So they both intended to kill the other... The two stared each other down for several second, longer than their exchange has even taken. Both could feel their bodies quickly repairing the damage that had been done.

"Tic toc." Kabuto started.

Naruto lunged forward once more, this time as a feint. Kabuto, as predicted, stepped back, only to be met with a blade through his uninjured wing and through his back. He violently swing around and hurled the Kage Bushin into a pile of rubble, which to his surprise, also poofed into a puff of smoke. Kabuto's eyes narrowed as all around him rubble poofed into clouds of white smoke, revealing nearly a hundred Naruto's, all with Odenta poised to take off his head.

Kabuto ducked and jumped and weaved through a barrage of attacks set forth by the blonde jounin, all the while throwing in a periodic "Tic toc."

The original Naruto clasped his hands together and began shooting wooden tendrils at the surprisingly evasive monster. Easily weaving through the mokuton jutsu Naruto's kage bushin launched their own well coordinated assault on the ashen creature. Each clone sensing every movement of the others, following every flare of mokuton chakra to predict its unpredictable movements, and striking at various places at once should have proved too much for any A-rank enemy, but Kabuto took it all in stride. Each cut healed before their very eyes, each stab wound closed in moments, although the man was a bloody mess, not a single wound marred his grotesque skin.

Kabuto would tank a hit in a non vital location, lock on to the attacker, and destroy the clone in a fraction of a second, but all this healing, although easy for now, consumed a large portion of his chakra, and the more chakra he used the more the curse seal clouded his judgement.

The curse seal chakra... it felt so good. It felt so right. The logical part of his mind screamed for him to hold back, it was causing him to be reckless, but his body craved more. It was like a drug, and he was hopelessly hooked. ' _More, more, more, more, MORE!'_ "Tic toc." One more logical move before I let it take me, Kabuto shivered in joy at the thought of getting a fix of the sweet, heavenly sensation, a manic smile snaking over his face. Running through hand seals, tanking more stabs, using the blood he'd already spilled, "Kuchiyose no jutsu! (summoning technique)"

A large white cloud enveloped the area and out shot a giant green snake, jaw open, ready to swallow Naruto whole.

Abnormally calm for someone standing face to face with a 60 foot serpent, Naruto thrusted Odenta straight through the roof of the monstrous snakes mouth and into it's brain.

"Tic toc, tic toc, tic toc, tic toc, tic toc tic toc!" Kabuto shouted from atop the now dead serpents back before suddenly stopping.

Naruto's eyes shot wide open as he felt something he hadn't felt since the chunin exams. It didn't take the blonde long to find the reason why either.

"Oh, looks like we're out of time!" Kabuto snickered, "too bad! I was having such a good time, but I have to go now!"

Naruto scowled at the creature, not Kabuto, creature, that stood before him. No matter what Kabuto was, no matter how evil he may have been, that wasn't him.

With wings fully healed the creature took to the sky, "until our paths cross again Naruto-kun!" In moments the maniac was gone. Naruto didn't even attempt to lay chase as he felt his body killing the venom from the gargantuan snake.

Naruto's gaze shifted from the horizon to the direction of the Niibi's chakra.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(In Kumo)**_

"How are you enjoying your new position Raikage-sama?" Mabui asked as she walked into the Raikage office, carrying a stack of papers for A to sign.

"I hate all this PAPERWORK!" A shouted, slamming his massive fists down on his desk, breaking it in half.

Mabui simply smiled at the muscular Raikage's childish outburst. "Well, you'll be happy to know that Bee should have made it to Konoha with Darui and Omoi by now."

Sitting back down in his seat A huffed. "It's hard not to be on edge whenever Bee is involved," he grunted. "I'll be much more relaxed when I get a letter from Konoha confirming his arrival."

"As long as I've known you I have never once seen you relaxed, Raikage-sama," Mabui chuckled. A wasn't a mean or harsh man, not to most anyways, but he was quick tempered and by no means laid back.

"You know what I mean. My brother has always been a wildcard. I just hope Darui is enough to keep him from taking any unnecessary detours."

"I'm sure Darui-kun can handle it," Mabui smiled.

"Either way, we are in a vulnerable position not having either of our jinjuriki in the village. What makes me even more uneasy is the fact that we haven't gotten a status report from our team in Mizu no Kuni in weeks," A clenched his fist and grit his teeth. "Bee better train those two jinjuriki brats fast, I'm getting a bad feeling."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(inside Rin's mindscape)**_

" _ **Rin, let me handle this. Give me control, you're in no shape to be fighting right now, let alone inside the village,"**_ Isobu said.

"No! I will _kill him!"_ Rin shouted. Her normally soft eyes were hardened with hatred.

Isobu, who had lived inside of the girl for the past 11 years, seeing everything she saw, hearing everything she heard, seeing into her mind, had never felt this amount of negative emotions radiating off of her. He hardly ever felt _any_ negative emotions from her. Usually all he could feel was mild distaste, but never hate. That worried him. Even though he wasn't a hateful Biju, the same way that many of his siblings were, this level of negative emotions along with his chakra was a dangerous combination. " _ **I cannot let you do this Rin-chan,"**_ Isobu said calmly. " _ **Either let me handle this in your stead, or I will not let you use my chakra."**_

"Shut up Isobu," Rin growled. "We both know that's an empty threat. I am going to kill him and you're going to help me!" Rin tuned Isobu out before he could protest any further.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With Rin and Fugaku)**_

The red chakra cloak around Rin began to swirl wildly as orbs of red and blue chakra began to condense in front of the jinjuriki's maw.

"So the jinjuriki comes to me," Fugaku laughed. "Are you sure you want to make your friends' sacrifices to meaningless?" He motioned towards Obito and Kakashi.

The Bijudama was aimed directly at Fugaku at point blank range. The shot would decimated the majority of the shopping district. The ball grew denser and denser until the chakra cloak encasing Rin was absorbed back into her seal.

' _ **I told you no!'**_ Isobu scolded.

Rin, still on all fours, was in shock. Her skin was burned off, courtesy of the Biju cloak, but it had already begun healing. What she was in shock about was the fact that Isobu took back his chakra, eliminating her only chance of defeating Fugaku.

Unforseen to anyone, Obito, in his last moments of life, phased through the chakra blade, pinning him to the ground, dashed over to Rin's side, clutched her shoulder and vanished into the black void centered around his eye.

Fugaku was speechless for a moment.

"... Plan B then." Susanoo vanished and Fugaku stormed off towards the Hokage monument.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With Minato)**_

The Yondaime Hokage's frigid gaze found itself on his Suna counterpart. The Kazekage has been on the receiving end of countless death stares in his life, but none as unsettling as this one. There was no fury, no hate, no malicious intent behind those eyes. It just gave off a sensation that they were looking at something that was already dead. It wasn't an unfeeling look. The Yondaime Hokage had a relaxed posture, his face was blank of emotion, everything but the three pronged kunai in his hand hinted at this being nothing more than a meeting between two colleagues. But it was his eyes. His bright blue eyes that looked to have unfathomable depths.

Finally the Hokage spoke. "Why are you here Rasa?" Minato spoke softly, but with an edge that forced every Suna shinobi within earshot to shutter and unconsciously take a step back.

"Vengeance," Rasa replied.

"I thought we moved past that," Minato said, his eyes still fixated on the Kazekage's.

The Kazekage did not respond, he simply met Minato's gaze with a stoic expression of his own.

Minato sighed, taking a look around at the Suna forces that had gathered for the invasion. "You cannot win here, Rasa." Minato said quietly. "The four of us," he motioned towards Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Hiruzen, "are all Kage level shinobi. Even if you manage to kill one of us, all your shinobi will die. Then what will come of Suna." It was a statement, not a question. Everyone knew what would happen to a weak hidden village.

"Not everyone has to die." Rasa said. "Just bring us the man who killed my sister and my brother in law."

"You know I won't do that," said Minato, leaking some killing intent for the first time. All but the most seasoned war veterans on the Suna side took yet another step back, but the Kazekage stood his ground. Minato didn't even know where Obito was at the moment, not that that mattered, but Hiruzen and his ANBU had already searched the dead and couldn't find Obito's body anywhere, nor was he amongst the survivors. Minato had an aching feeling in his gut, he had felt the sanbi chakra earlier, but had yet to receive the report from the ANBU that went to investigate it.

"A price has to be paid, Minato. Only a life will pay for the ones we lost."

Minato's eyes scanned the nervous faces of the army behind the Kazekage. Some of them were no older than 13. After a moment that lasted an eternity in the minds of all those present Minato gave his answer. "Fine." Shock spread over the faces of Tsunade and Hiruzen.. "Then take mine."

Without a moment of hesitation Rasa's hand shot up, with it a cloud of gold dust engulfed the blonde kage. The Kazekage clenched his fist.

There was a sickening crunch and an explosion of blood and gore. All those present stood wide eyed in horror as the gold dust fell to the ground.

Several yards away stood Jiraiya, fist held straight out where the maroon haired Kazekage once stood. The Yondaime Kazekage's body stood, headless with scarlet blood spurting out of the hole between the shoulders that once held the man's neck.

Red lines streaked down the toad sage's eyes, which now held a rectangular pupil in each. A large, red, bulbous nose turning the normally handsome face into something horrifying. And a triangular goatee covering his normally square chin.

"Run," Jiraiya growled, punctuated with the hollow thud of the headless corpse collapsing on the ground. The one simple word broke the spell over the entire Suna army as each and every shinobi, no matter how seasoned, turned and ran for their lives. "And never come back."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Konoha fallout shelter)**_

Kushina's head shot towards the entranceway instinctively as she reacted to a sudden commotion.

"Urahhh!" a chunin screamed as he was shot down the hallway and exploded upon contact with the wall.

There were several more spine tingling screams of pain, and pleas for mercy, which were soon followed by the sounds of crushing skulls, snapping vertebrae, and the sickening sound of blades piercing through bodies.

The horrifying sounds was followed by several seconds of ominous silence, followed by slow footsteps against the cold hard concrete leading into the shelter.

Noses crinkled as the stench of blood filled the atrium, and the footsteps grew closer and louder.

Kushina drew her katana and took position in front of the doorway ready to attack. A pair of chunin took a spot on either side of the door, ready to ambush whoever walked through.

A long shadow peaked into view and the footsteps continued.

Every retired shinobi quickly moved the children to the back corner of the atrium and took a ready stance, shielding them from whatever threat loomed beyond the entrance.

Seeing their elders rise, ready to fight, the genin, too, drew their weapons and prepared to fend off their attacker.

A masked figure in a long black cloak stopped in the doorway, within view of all.

"I'm here for the jinjuriki," the figure said in a deep dread inducing voice.

After a moment passed and all were able to register what had just been said, the masked man raised his arms and shot a pair of machete shaped blades through the walls and into the necks of the two shinobi on the other side of the entrance.

The cloaked figure darted through the doorway, evading the attacks of the defending shinobi. Kushina stepped forward and swung her katana down at the man, but found her blade blocked by a hovering black machete.

Fugaku's foot shot out from the side and connected with Kushina's stomach, sending the red haired kunoichi soaring through the room. He swiftly snatched a kunai out of the hand of a chunin attacking from his other flank and buried the black knife in an elderly Hyuuga's skull, kicking the chunin in the right temple and sending him face first into the doorframe.

Fugaku sprung off the ground, avoiding Mikoto's axe stomp aimed at the back of his head. Blades shot out of his flowing sleeves and stuck in the chests of more oncoming attackers. ' _Pitiful,'_ he thought.

Fugaku leaned backwards to avoid Kushina's katana by mere inches, and was forced to backflip feet first into the opposite wall as Mikoto launched a barrage of shuriken at his right flank. He swiftly sprang forward off the wall, soaring headfirst at Kushina, and as she initiated another slash at his head he planted his palm on the ground and sprang over her, darting directly towards the cluster of children in the far corner of the shelter.

The gathering of elderly and genin visibly tensed as the masked man sped towards them.

An Uchiha elder stepped in front of him, three tomoe sharingan spinning, and Fugaku simply swatted him away with a well placed chop to the neck.

The elderly attempted to swarm him, but were easily fended off, leaving a heap of broken, bloodied seniors in his wake. The civilians were all frozen in fear. Fugaku paid them no mind, but some of the genin were less easily terrified.

' _I will protect them for you!'_ Ayame mentally shouted to herself, stepping in front of the masked man. She held out the naginata Naruto had given her, in order to protect those most dear to him. She channeled the stored chakra through the lightning seal, creating a blinding display of arcing lightning bolts at the tip of the dark brown shaft.

Fugaku's eyes widened slightly in surprise, he hadn't expected this girl to be capable of such an advanced technique, that is until he observed her posture and found that she was not capable of controlling that power at all. As the lightning clad blade was thrusted towards him Fugaku leaned to the left, allowing the weapon to pass by him, and from his billowing sleeve shot a blade straight out and through the girl's left breast, and through her heart.

Kushina caught up and sent a downward slash at the cloaked man's back, but Fugaku sensed her coming and snatched the Naginata out of the dead girl's hands, intent to plunge the lightning clad tip into the Uzumaki woman's chest.

Immediately Fugaku knew something was wrong. He felt his hand seize up and his body become stiff. The lightning vanished from existence and in slow motion he watched the red heads katana slashing down towards him.

His mangekyou sharingan spun in his eye sockets and a fiery blue rib cage materialized a hair away from him, blocking what would have been a killing blow.

This fight was lost for him. He knew it. As it was the only thing he _might_ be able to manage is an escape. "Zetsu! Get Deidara!" he shouted.

"Yes, Madara-sama." said a Konoha shinobi, standing idly by in the opposite corner before he melted into the concrete floor.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Itachi and Yugito)**_

"Yugito, calm down!" Itachi shouted.

" _ **I'm going to KILL HIM!"**_ Shouted the unsettling combination between Yugito and Matatabi's voices.

"Matatabi, stop giving her your power! She's not thinking straight!" Itachi pleaded.

The massive blue cat crouched down to Itachi's eye level. " _ **No."**_ the flaming feline growled, " _ **I want what Yugito wants. That's why I haven't eaten you yet. And right now, what she wants, is to kill whoever is responsible for this."**_

Itachi stood his ground against the Biju, an impressive feat in and of itself. "We can take care of that when we know what actually happened." Itachi's sharingan spun into existence as he stared into the eyes of the queen of all felines, severing the connection between her and her jinjuriki.

The Biju's chakra swirled back into Yugito's seal, and the lithe Kumo kunoichi collapsed into Itachi's arms.

"It was Kabuto," Naruto growled as he stalked in, making a slow beeline to Samui's side.

The early morning sun had not quite peeked over the horizon, but it lit up the clear morning sky enough for all to see what a beautiful day laid ahead. It was the first time in the months they had spent in this country that it was anything but gloomy.

Naruto couldn't sense her chakra. That was enough to tell him the truth of the matter, but he has to see for himself. He had to be sure. Naruto reached his fingers out to check her charadid for a pulse but found nothing but still, clammy skin.

Naruto looked down at her face. It was hollow. Her eyes were sunken in, dark black bags surrounding them. Her skin was paper white with black blood vessels spider webbing all over her normally smooth unmarred skin. Her lips were black and split, oozing a thick black liquid that Naruto assumed was her blood. The same syrupy black substance oozed out of her ears, nose, and tear ducts.

Naruto gazed at the grotesque corpse before him in disbelief. After several minutes of just looking, the reality of the situation sank in. He dropped to his knees and vomited on the ground before him. After several heaves he pulled himself back up, and with violently shaking hands and a broken look on his face he reached up to stroke the teenage girls bleach blonde hair. As soon as his hand made contact the strands of hair he touched fell out and crumbled to dust in his hand.

Shaken once more his eyes darted over Samui's lifeless body, and he caught a whiff of a putrid smell. Where he touched her to check for a pulse began to rot away before their very eyes. It turned a sickening yellow brown and started to slowly eat away at the tissue around it. With each second that passed the stench grew stronger as Naruto and Itachi watched Samui's body decay right in front of their eyes.

With each passing second Naruto felt himself break. Something within him, chipped for as long as he could remember, cracked after his first kill, over the years the crack split deeper, grew longer, spread into even more cracks, now he felt pieces falling away as he watched Samui decay. Kabuto, one of his best friends, did this. Shards fell off of his broken heart. One of his precious people took away someone he loved. Cracks began to spiderweb further. He could have stopped it. His aching heart began to crumble. But he lost himself in his rage and inadvertently killed Samui by allowing Kabuto to destroy the antidote. His heart crumbled to dust and something that once made up who he was was gone forever.

Long after the stench became unbearable, and the sight grew even worse, Naruto looked on. Itachi, having made a clone to carry Yugito outside, stood behind his best friend as looked at Samui for the last time.

What seemed like hours, but was in fact only several minutes, Samui was nothing more than a skeleton in pajamas, but the skeleton, too, soon crumbled to dust.

The morning sun peeked over the horizon, bringing some warmth to the frigid winter morning air.

Naruto didn't say anything. The shaking stopped and his eyes were dry. A cold, unfeeling exterior masked his pain. Naruto stood up and walked out into the streets.

"Naruto," Itachi said calmly, keeping pace beside his friend. "What are we doing?"

"Ending this."

Naruto walked east, into the rising sun, with Itachi at his side.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(west side of the rebel base)**_

Five swordsmen stood atop the hill overlooking what once was the rebel headquarters.

"Let's go take what we came for," said the largest among them, a massive 7 foot shark man with an equally enormous bandaged blade slung across his back.

XXX END CHAPTER 29 XXX

That took forever to write. Honestly I wrote this chapter several times but I just couldn't figure out how I wanted some things to play out, and honestly, previous drafts just came out as lazy sounding. I knew what I wanted to happen, but getting there was a pain in the ass.

So Obito is dead, Samui is dead, Ayame is dead. A lot of people are dead. Naruto is out for vengeance, I didn't really go over it much but Ashina and Mito were both there and so was Sasuke. And before anyone says anything about Fugaku's mask being destroyed by Kakashi and it's really convenient that Fugaku has another one, I just didn't want to get into a whole "everyone recognizes him and everyone is like 'how can you do this?'" ordeal, nobody wants to read through my shitty dialogue.

I'm going to do another time skip, but you'll find out everything important that happens through stories, flashbacks, dreams, etc.

Kakashi is still alive (somehow), Shisui is still alive (blind now), and any important character I didn't say was dead is alive (except some of the rebels).


	30. Chapter 30: Homecoming

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 30: Homecoming

 _ **(Konoha: 4 years later)**_

Sarutobi Hiruzen, sitting on his front porch puffing on his pipe as he was inclined to do, gazed at his two young disciples weapon sparring in the Sarutobi clan training grounds as they have been doing for the past four years. It never ceases to amaze the retired hokage how much a few short years could change people. Ume and Konohamaru has both developed into promising young students at the academy, constantly placing at number one and number two in all of their classes. If Hiruzen was about 50 years younger and two wars less experienced he would have been hard pressed to think of a better duo than his own grandson and the red haired girl before him.

Ume and Konohamaru separated after a furrocious clash, each settling back into their stances and circling each other once more. Ume held in her hands a familiar Naginata, blade canted and the tail end of the dark mahogany staff pressed firmly against her forearm. Konohamaru adopted a slight variant of her stance, holding his bright red bo staff closer to the middle in order to grant him greater maneuverability of the weapon.

Hiruzen smiled at the two 9 year olds as he reminisced on his instruction of the underutilized art form. He himself has been trained in the martial art by the Monkey King Enma himself. It wasn't often that the Sandaime got to pass on his knowledge with a staff, for few shinobi has much interest in using a bladeless weapon.

Konohamaru was the first to request instruction with a staff, and Ume developed an interest shortly after, however she was reluctant to forgo using the weapon she currently held in her hands.

Hiruzen's normal warm smile lost some of its brightness as his mind wandered back to the events of four years ago.

Flashback:

Ume clung to the leg of the older girl she had come to know as family over the span of her short life. She heard footsteps clacking against the cold concrete floor, and with each passing footfall her tiny fingers dug slightly deeper into the fabric of Ayame's pant leg.

Tears silently fell down her face as fear sunk deeper and deeper, putting the tiny redhead into a stranglehold as she held her breath. "I wish Naruto-niichan was here," Ume choked out quietly. Ume felt a gentle hand laid atop her head and stroke her hair before resting tenderly on her soft, tear covered cheek. Ume looked up to see the brown haired kunoichi gaze down at her with a warm, reassuring smile and soft comforting eyes.

"I do too, Little Plum," Ayame said softly, "but you know what?" Ume stared up into the brunettes eyes, vivid violet meeting chocolate brown. "Naruto-kun gave me this," she held out her Naginata. "He made it for me so I could protect you while he's away." Ume regarded the beautifully crafted weapon with awe. "And you know what else?" Ayame crouched down, taking Ume's hand in her own. "Just like this seal here," she gently stroked the seal on the back of the youngest Namikaze's hand, "Naruto sealed his chakra in this to protect us," she said with a reassuring smile. "As long we have this nothing can hurt you," she said softly yet firmly.

Ume paused for a moment before steeling her nerves and adopting a determined expression.

There was a crash down the hallway, and the rest was little more than a blur to the violet eyed girl. That is until the world exploded into a storm of electricity which turned into an ocean of scarlet.

Time all but stopped. From the moment Ayame broke free of Ume's grip every millisecond seemed to last as long as her entire lifetime up until that point.

The masked man darted towards her older siblings, and Ayame dashed forward to cut him off. Ume felt like she could see every every arc of electricity arc off the blade of her brothers creation. Any glimmer of hope she desperately clung on to was swiftly stomped out as she watched the man duck beneath the lightning clad blade and drive a blade of his own through Ayame's throat.

From there everything went black. Ume was so overwhelmed with emotion that her brain simply shut off until the not so distant sound of explosions woke her from her trace just in time to see Ayame's killer make his escape.

End flashback.

It was unclear to Hiruzen how close Ume and Ayame has been. He knew that she and Naruto has frequently taken Ume to the park when Naruto was not on a mission, and that Ayame has taken it upon herself to spend time with the redhead in Naruto's absence: however Ume remained guarded about the subject and rarely spoke about the older girl.

Hiruzen's expression once again took a dark turn. It was not long after the events that took place that night, still in the beginning of the villages mourning that they had received more troubling news. The Kiri rebellion has fallen.

Minato has sent out teams of ANBU to retrieve all shinobi out on missions to return home immediately, declaring a state of emergency, yet instead of team 5 the ANBU envoy to Kiri returned with news of the rebellions fall. Minato sent scores of ANBU out to search for the three jounin, but it proved to be a fruitless effort. Any semblance of a rebellion was very publicly displayed as ruin, brutally stomped out by the Kiri forces.

Whispers of small rebel contingencies made their way back to Konoha, but all were wary to hope. To most the idea of having their hope stamped out once more was unbearable.

 _ **(Konoha gate)**_

Two figures approached the main gates, hoods drawn and cloaks billowing behind them. The guards squinted their eyes to try to get a better look at the two men approaching. One guard wiped a bead of sweat from his brow while the other called out.

"What business do you have in Konoha?" He asked, halting the two men 10 yards out.

"Returning from a mission," replied a calm voice from beneath his tan traveling cloak, clearly exhausted, if not a little annoyed, yet still conveying strength behind it.

Neither of the two gate guards recognized the clearly masculine voice that answered. "What team are you with? We don't recognize you from our list of deployed shinobi," the same guard said, standing his ground. After the attack four years prior security was rather strict in Konoha, measuring up to the standards of most other hidden villages.

"Team 5." The same masculine voice replied.

"Team 5 has been discontinued." the guard said reaching for his weapons pouch.

The figures lowered their hoods to reveal their faces. The two gate guards gaped in awe at who they were seeing. "Y-you two are supposed to be dead."

"Sorry to disappoint," said Naruto, flashing a friendly grin that the villagers came to know years prior.

At first glance they looked every bit the 17 year old jounin that they were, but upon closer inspection each of them wore wore a pair of haunted eyes.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Hokage's office)**_

Minato looked up from his desk after hearing a knock at the door, "Enter," he said, wondering who it might be. He didn't have any appointments today, odd for the Hokage, and most people who usually just "dropped by" either came bursting through the door unopposed or simply came through the window.

The door creaked open and in walked two people he had never thought he'd see again. "Son..." Minato breathed.

"Hello, tou-san." Naruto replied, pacing towards the desk. Itachi followed close behind. Minato missed the quick scan of the office the two instinctively did, pinpointing the location and discerning the purpose of each security seal and all ANBU hidden in the shadows.

Minato sprang over his desk with lightning speed and embraced the son he had long thought was dead. Naruto instinctively reaching for the storage seal on his wrist, but restrained himself, allowing his father to embrace him in a tight hug. Naruto was tense, standing at attention, arms tight to his side and shoulders hunched. After a split second Itachi relaxed and deactivated his sharingan, which has spun to life as soon as he saw Minato twitch to vault over his desk. These actions did not go unnoticed by the ANBU, who twitched ever so slightly at the brief tension in the room. Itachi casually glanced in the direction of the ANBU captain hidden in the far left corner, giving him a look that said 'we know you're there'. The ANBU captain shuddered slightly.

"Wh-where have you been all this time?" Asked Minato, releasing his son from his grasp. He noticed how thin the teenager before him was, he was easily 30 pounds lighter than someone his height should have been. Now looking into his sons eyes he saw something that horrified him more than he could say. The once vibrant pools of cerulean were now dull and lifeless. The dark heavy bags under his eyes weighed down what was once bright and cheerful. Even his hair, which was as golden as Minato's, was now a long unkempt mangle and streaked with grey. All together the 17 year old looked like a literal skeleton of what he once was.

Minato's gaze shifted over to his son's best friend. Itachi looked to have fared no better. The same dark grey hair was now a shade lighter with streaks of white all falling down past his shoulders. He was skinny, so much so that Minato could see the bone beneath his skin. And again, most shocking of all, were his eyes.

"What happened?" He asked, concern evident in his eyes.

"We lost." Naruto said quietly.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(15 minutes later)**_

Word of Naruto and Itachi's return spread throughout the village faster than anyone would have imagined, and within minutes the Namikaze family, accompanied by Rin, Tsunade, Shizune, Mikoto and Sasuke came crashing through Minato's office door.

"Is it true Minato? Are they really ba-" Kushina stopped as her eyes fell on her eldest son and her emotions came bursting out. She dashed towards the malnourished blonde, who once again tensed up and reflexively went for his storage seal.

This time Minato saw it, however. He gently pulled his wife away from their son, who relaxed once more, allowing his fatigue to show once more. After hearing just a little of what Naruto and Itachi had told him already, Minato knew that these two needed serious help. ' _That look...'_ he thought. It was a look of someone at the end of their emotional string. After what those two had endured over the past four years, Minato had only heard of the first several months thus far, he was amazed that neither of them had yet to have a nervous breakdown.

Kushina was ready to tear off Minato's manhood right then and there before she took a look into Naruto's eyes. He couldn't hold her gaze, but even so, she could see the eyes of someone who'd seen things no human being should ever have to see. They were the eyes of someone who has seen and endured hell for far too long.

Kushina turned pleading eyes to her husband, ' _what happened?'_ her eyes seemed to ask.

Minato simply shook his head.

"Onii-san?" Sasuke whispered, slowly approaching his brother.

Itachi looked up at Sasuke, giving him a warm smile. He reached up with his right hand and poked Sasuke in the forehead. "Hey, Sasuke."

Naruto looked over his shoulder to be met with the sight of his three siblings for the first time in over four years. "Hey there you little Tomatoes," he said brightly, greeting them with a slightly strained smile before he knelt down and opened his arms to invite them into a group hug. This action too was slightly strained but Naruto made no move to even twitch towards his storage seal before he was bombarded with some long overdue affection from his younger siblings. "Woah, you're not so little anymore, are ya?" He mused playfully, relaxing into the warm embrace of some of his most precious people.

Naruto and Itachi shared a brief glance, each assuring the other that they had both noticed the same thing. Rin. One eye the usual chocolate brown, while the other, surrounded in scar tissue, was charcoal black.

That alone answered the question that had plagued them for the past two and a half years. ' _So he wasn't lying.'_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Later that night, Namikaze residence)**_

"I finally got Ume to sleep," Kushina said, taking a seat on the couch next to her husband.

"Inoichi has them staying overnight at the hospital for their psych eval." Minato said, as he read the same line in his book for the umpteenth time.

"What happened to them?" Kushina asked, afraid of the answer.

"Things that even the best of us might never come back from," Minato said with a solemn look. "I doubt I even heard the worst of it."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(4 years ago)**_

Onimaru sliced through muscle tissue and cleaved through bone. The waves just kept on coming, no matter how many they killed more just followed.

It had hardly been a week since Kabuto defected, and all hell had broken out all over the country, not that all hell wasn't already on the loose to begin with. What was once a well organized army of Kiri shinobi devolved into chaos overnight.

Kabuto had given Kiri the locations of nearly every rebel base throughout Mizu no Kuni, and those he hadn't been aware of were easily found after every living rebel was tortured for information. Even the headquarters base had been raided and burned to the ground by 5 of the 7 swordsmen themselves. And what made matters worse was the fact that Oto shinobi were now running wild throughout the country, raping, murdering, and plundering every town on the map. No Kiri shinobi stood in their way, in fact, Kiri reveled in the mayhem and joined in.

Naruto shot a wooden stake right past Itachi's ear and into the eye socket of a Kiri chunin ready to stab Itachi in the back of the neck.

As soon as they heard about the rebel headquarters falling to the swordsmen, Naruto and Itachi doubled back in an attempt to try and save their comrades. ' _This is all our fault!'_ Itachi screamed inside his mind. ' _If we weren't so hell bent on catching him we could have stopped this! Now they have Yugito, who I left there, unable to defend herself. Who knows what those sick bastards have done to her,'_ Onimaru cleaved straight through a man's throat, slicing from one earlobe to the other, opening up his neck like a pez dispenser. ' _They have Juzo-san and Zabuza-san!'_ They knew what was happening to them; public flaying. ' _Mei-san,'_ public rape, and rumor has it kekkei genkai research, ' _Ao-san,'_ byakugan extraction and death by torture. The list went on and one, and it was all their fault. ' _It was supposed to end with Samui. She was the last one they were ever going to kill!'_ but that wasn't the case.

Naruto caught an enemy ANBU's legs in a dark brown wooden vine and squeezed, crushing through bones and sinew until the limbs were severed from his body.

The enemy shinobi were under strict orders to maim but not kill. Orochimaru wanted them alive for his experiments. That's why they were facing off against Kiri shinobi rather than Oto forces. They had learned that Orochimaru had placed his curse seal on every member of his own personal army, and the common Oto shinobi was _far_ less capable of controlling the psychotic tendencies that went along with the curse seals use than the Kabuto was. If you could even call that control.

The onslaught of enemies was too intense for either Naruto or Itachi to so much as form a hand seal, let alone utilize any of their higher level ninjutsu, so the two were limited to techniques that either didn't require the use of hand signs, or the limited number of jutsu they could form without them.

Itachi sucked in a deep breath and exhaled a stream of fire in a ring around them, Naruto did the same, however instead of flames he blew out a gale of wind which magnified the area and strength of the jutsu. This being their most common collaboration jutsu was rendered all but useless due to the prowess Kiri shinobi held in Suiton ninjutsu.

The strength of the fire and wind techniques was able to overpower the suiton techniques to the desired result, and Naruto closed his eyes to focus of the power of nature all around him.

Itachi's Mangekyou sharingan spun to life and surrounded himself and his blonde companion in a red ribcage, protecting the two from the barrage of weapons sent sailing towards them. Itachi was inexperienced with the Susanoo, he only discovered this particular ability several days ago while fighting off a hoard of Oto curse seal monsters, which has come to call themselves curse reapers. One of the weaknesses he found in this ability was that there were no means for him to attack while using it; it was a full ribcage with no arms to use offensively and no way for him to attack while inside. He hoped that with some training he would be able to utilize the technique to a greater extent, but for now it was strictly defensive. And what a defense it was.

Shuriken and kunai ricocheted off the ethereal skeleton and lodged themselves into the faces and torsos of unsuspecting enemies, leaving no sign of damage.

Blood soaked the ground all around them, creating a thick foul smelling sludge covering the floor of the battlefield as the blood and gore mixed with the already muddy ground. Every step felt like pulling your foot out of a tub of peanut butter. Itachi was inwardly cringed at the idea that the waste was squishing between his exposed toes.

Suddenly Itachi felt an intense stabbing pain in his eye and instinctively reached up to put pressure on it and hopefully ease the pain. Letting out a grunt after the pain subsided several moments later Itachi looked at his hand to see his palms stained with blood. The Susanoo flickered briefly but held together. Itachi glanced over to the Mokuton user standing motionless to his his side.

Naruto felt the energy in the atmosphere building up. The stark contrast between the intense heat of their fire and wind collaboration jutsu and the chilling cold of the mid winter Mizu no Kuni air has produced the desired results. Naruto focused on the buildup of electricity above him. He was not a Raiton user, but this wasn't necessarily a Raiton jutsu he was attempting either. Naruto knew that he has some sort of connection to nature, but he has no idea what he could do with it. This was proving to be immensely difficult. Naruto could clearly feel the natural electricity building up in the sky but he had no idea as to how to direct it.

Naruto's eyes shot open and Itachi, who was still observing his blonde friend through bloodied eyes, caught a brief shimmer of gold before they reverted back to their natural cerulean state. "Itachi, if I lose control I want you to beat the nature energy out of me," Naruto said with a firm tone of finality. Of course now that he had time he could wipe the enemy out with a colossal mokuton jutsu, but Naruto felt the need to explore what this power was capable of.

Before Itachi could protest Naruto dropped to the ground and sat cross legged in a zen pose as he began to collect nature energy. He opened the normally tightly shut floodgates slightly, allowing just a little bit of nature energy to mix in with his chakra. The problem with nature energy was finding the correct balance, he found. Ideally you wanted equal parts physical, spiritual, and natural energy to pull off the perfect balance, simple enough. However he had to allow nature energy to collect in his reserves and attempt to control it while it was there. Manipulating nature energy required one to already have abnormally large reserves, because if someone has too small reserves the slightest imbalance would immediately petrify them. With those with large chakra reserves , however, the problem wasn't going a little too far overboard, because a slight imbalance was not immediately catastrophic, but keeping the chakra already collected under control, plus the time it took to allow the energy to fill his reserves.

This place wasn't nearly as saturated with the potent energy as the forest had been during the chunin exams, so collecting the energy was a far slower process, but at the same time he didn't have to focus so hard on not losing control.

Nearly 10 minutes passed and Itachi was nearing his limit with Susanoo. Ethereal skeleton or not, the basest form of the mangekyou sharingan ability was wearing down on him.

' _Almost there, '_ Naruto would have though, if it wouldn't have interfered with his concentration. Naruto could feel the energy around him far more clearly now. Every movement of the wind, every drop of water, as the cold rain began to sprinkle down. He felt the leaves of the trees in the distance give to every drop of the oncoming downpour. He felt the few animals remaining in the area scamper to find shelter. He felt the footsteps trample over each, now buried, blade of grass. Most of all he felt his own body. He felt... powerful.

Shimmering golden eyes shot open, surrounded by orange markings around his eyes. He reached up to the sky feeling the massive energy buildup in the sky, and using his now nature enhanced chakra as an anchor he attempted to pull. A massive accumulation of lightning shot out of the sky in a blinding white flash. Naruto attempted to direct the lightning around him but only with moderate success. Small arcs spider webbing off the main bolt collided with the tip of Itachi's Susanoo, however the majority of the electricity landed all around them, briefly morphing the war zone around them into nothing more than white.

Itachi shut his eyes tightly and covered them with his hands to protect his enhanced vision. Naruto too was forced to cover his eyes briefly until the world around them settled back into its usual gloom.

Naruto noted that the electricity seemed to linger in the air. Itachi's normally smooth hair was standing on end, and Naruto felt the uncomfortable sensation of his clothing clinging to his skin. The area around them was charred black. The heavy mixture of blood and mud was now more akin to black volcanic rock, and the enemy forces were nothing more than piles of ash either mixed in with, or neatly covering the scorched earth beneath them.

Itachi dropped to his knees, still clutching his eyes and the ethereal ribcage protecting the two dissipation in thin air.

"Do you really think that _now_ was the best time to try something like that?" Itachi chided.

"Sorry," Naruto replied in an uncharacteristically cool tone, "but I doubt we're going to have many opportunities to train or test our abilities outside of battle for a while."

Itachi slowly got to his feet, rubbing the soreness from his eyes. He glanced over at Naruto and saw the gold of his iris fade and return to their natural blue state. "That didn't last long," he noted.

"I underestimated how wild and difficult to control lightning can be," Naruto replied, analyzing the technique he'd just performed.

Itachi let out a tired sigh. "I need to find a way to improve my Susanoo," he stated flatly. He was nowhere near satisfied with his performance. He wasn't nearly strong enough. Not yet.

The two silently made their way east.

XXX END CHAPTER 30 XXX


	31. Chapter 31: Rest and Relaxation

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 31: Rest and Relaxation

"Physically they're fine, they just need a few months to recover and start eating more," Tsunade reported to the Hokage, worry still evident in her eyes. "It's just..." she trailed off.

"They've seen a lot, Hokage-sama," Inoichi finished for her. "They told me the whole story and..." this time Inoichi trailed off.

"That bad, huh?" Minato asked with a hint of resignation. ' _Whatever those two have been through... I have a feeling it's worse than anything any of us have ever seen...'_

All three blondes stood in the silent office with their eyes firmly fixated on the floor.

Tsunade had been there as well when Itachi and Naruto regaled their experiences, but she couldn't find it in her to listen to the end. She was ashamed to say it, but she couldn't bear to listen to the voice of the boy she cared so much for speak of such horrible experiences.

Inoichi himself, the man who was not only the villages lead interrogator, but also served in the capacity of a psychiatrist to many of the veterans from the third shinobi world war, has to stop the two teenagers several times in order to organize his thoughts and clear his head.

"What are your thoughts?" Minato asked after some time had passed.

"They both want to continue as shinobi," Inoichi said, receiving a nod from Minato. "They've been through a lot, but their experience, and no doubt their power is indispensable."

"Hold on just a minute!" Tsunade snapped. "They come back to us after four years of nonstop battle and looking like that, and we're talking about whether or not they can still fight for us!?"

"They have a point hime," a deep voice from behind Minato answered.

All three inhabitants of the office moved to regard the large man with a spiky white mane standing just outside the open window.

"The threat is still present and we need to think about the safety of the village above all else," Jiraiya continued, climbing through the window.

"What about them? What about their well being? This is their mental health we're talking about!" Tsunade sputtered. "Inoichi, you know better than anyone how fragile the mind is! How can we even think about sending them back out on dangerous missions right now?"

"Nobody is talking about sending them out right away," Minato said, trying to put the older woman at ease. He was well aware of Tsunade's feelings towards Naruto, growing up the woman had been like a second mother to him. Minato frowned slightly, she and Hiruzen may have been closer to his eldest sons parents than he and Kushina had been. "Their well being is our first priority, but as Hokage I have to think of what's best for the village."

"And you would sacrifice your own son's sanity to do that!" Tsunade spat back. "What am I saying, of course you would." she said with an accusing glare.

Minato reeled back in shock at her blunt statement, but before he could respond Jiraiya interjected.

"Tsunade," he said firmly, "as much as we all wish it wasn't the case, a storm is coming. What happened four years ago will be nothing compared to what Fugaku has in store for us next. He has an _army_ , Tsunade. He has an Army and we are short on allies. Relations with Iwa are as bad as they've ever been, Suna has shut their borders and have alienated themselves from the rest of the world, and Kiri has joined Fugaku's side along with almost a dozen minor villages. The only ally we have left is Kumo. It's potentially us and Kumo against the rest of the shinobi world. We need all the manpower we can get, and those two alone account for o _ne hell_ of a lot of manpower! The needs of the village _far_ outweigh whatever those two are going through."

Tsunade glared at Jiraiya with eyes that could melt steel, but said nothing. As much as she hated it, he was right. At least about the poor state of affairs their village was found in at the moment.

"They will be on a mandatory two month recovery period," Minato started, breaking some of the tension in the room, "and after that we will assess their mission readiness and begin to integrate them into missions once more."

Tsunade, being as stubborn as she was beautiful, spun on her heel and stormed out of the office growling some particularly vulgar curses, mostly directed towards Jiraiya before slamming the door shut behind her with enough force to collapse the wall around it.

"If that's all you may leave as well, Inoichi," Minato said, taking a seat in the chair behind his desk.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the blonde interrogation specialist said, turning around and walking out the office, mindful to move in the opposite direction that Tsunade had gone.

Once Inoichi was out of sight Minato let out a long sigh, allowing his posture to slump as he placed his elbows on his desk and steepled his fingers to rest his forehead on.

"Don't take it so hard," Jiraiya said, leaning up against the wall and crossing his arms. "You're the Hokage. Dealing with shitty situations is what you do best. That's part of the reason I never wanted the job... that and all the paperwork." His eyes wandered over to the large mountain of papers waiting on the left side of Minato's desk.

"I'm just glad to have him back." Minato said quietly. "I thought that I had killed him by sending them out there. Kushina told me not to, and I told her that as Hokage I couldn't treat him any differently, that I had to assign him missions in accordance to his rank." Jiraiya listened carefully to what his student was saying. "The last thing he said to us before he left was 'You have me in your family now, but if you do to them what you did to me and mistreat them in any way while I'm gone I will never speak to you as your son again'." Minato fell silent for a full minute. "I thought he died resenting me..."

Jiraiya stepped forward and placed a placating hand on Minato's shoulder. "Now you have a second chance."

"I've missed so much of his life, sensei..." Minato said. Contrary to his unchanged demeanor it was clear to Jiraiya that Minato was distressed. "It's all my fault. All the hardships he's had to overcome are my fault. I have failed my son every step of the way, and I have no idea how to fix it!"

"Just be there to help him when he asks."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Naruto)**_

The blonde walked alone through the isles of headstones. Itachi had gone home directly after they were released from the hospital that morning, and Naruto was on his way to do the same. But there was something he had to do first.

Making his way down the isles of headstones, noticing the names of several villagers he recognized, civilian and shinobi alike, Naruto soon found what he was looking for. The memorial stone stood apart from the rest of the graves, in the center of the cemetery. Naruto studied the stone and soon found himself looking at the two names he has been looking for.

Naruto let out a breath he'd unconsciously been holding as he read the names with a look of resignation on his face. Uchiha Obito and Ichiraku Ayame.

Naruto and Itachi already knew about the fate of their former sensei, but upon entering the village Naruto sensed around and was unable to locate his childhood girlfriend.

Naruto absently stroked the worn white fabric still tied around his waist bearing the symbol of his allegiance to Konoha.

The blonde stood motionless, sifting through the disorganized thoughts running through his mind for nearly an hour, fully aware of the curious looks he received from other villagers coming to visit lost loved ones. He paid them no mind, as nobody made any move to approach him.

It was an odd feeling looking at the names of two people who were once closest to him, but not feeling the sorrow that should have gone along with it.

' _Am I that broken?'_ He thought as his unfocused cerulean eyes stared blankly at the black marble. It wasn't that he didn't feel anything, he just didn't feel as strongly as he once would have. And that bothered him.

By the time Naruto moved to leave he noticed that the hot June sun was directly above him. He turned around and slowly made his way to his family home.

Walking through the village Naruto noted how much it had changed over the past four years, albeit not by choice but out of necessity. He also noted more curious gazes from the villages inhabitants. ' _It barely feels like home anymore,'_ he thought as he continued down the busy street, ' _what is home supposed to feel like anyways...'_ his thoughts drifted back to his first few months in Kiri, before Kabuto had betrayed them. Or before Kabuto had confessed to his betrayal.

Naruto thought of Samui, the image of her body decaying before his very eyes was still the subject of most of his nightmares. The brief time he had spent with her was arguably one of the happiest times of his life.

He felt a gut wrenching sickness as he pulled back on the sorrow he felt, thinking of the life they could have had. He was only 17, but he knew he had already lived through far more than most do in a lifetime.

The blonde passed by the familiar ramen stand he'd spent most of his money at during his childhood and hesitated for a moment before opting to continue on his way rather than face the father of the girl he once loved.

Naruto opened the front door to his old home, he could still feel Obito's chakra radiating off the wood the home was made from. He paused briefly, choking down the odd combination of comfort and remorse.

He slowly made his way up to his old room, careful not to alert anyone else of his presence. He shut the door silently behind him, quickly made a locking seal on the inside doorknob, not one strong enough to truly repel his mother or father, but complex enough to let them know he didn't want to be disturbed. He laid down on his old bed, savoring the comfort of the soft surface on which he had to rest his head, and shut his eyes.

"Naru-chan! You're home!"

Naruto's eyes shot open and instinct took over. Faster than a blink of an eye he has the perpetrator pinned to the ground with a kunai pressed firmly to their throat.

Naruto blinked and found himself staring into the vivid violet eyes of his youngest sister.

The fear she felt quickly faded, "wow! That was so scary Naru-chan!" Ume exclaimed excitedly. "Can you teach me how to move that fast?" She asked with an ear to ear smile.

Naruto quickly leapt back several yards, flicking his kunai back into the holster hidden beneath his sleeve on his right forearm, staring at Ume in shock. ' _I almost killed her...'_ fear crept into the forefront of his consciousness as he continued to gaze at his 9 year old sister. ' _Why didn't I sense her? I should have sensed her in here from a mile away.'_

"Naru-chan? Why are you staring at me like that?" Ume asked, looking up at her brother with a confused expression.

Naruto shook his head slightly to banish his thoughts, "i-it's nothing, Ume... I'm sorry, you snuck up on me."

Ume adopted the excited smile once more, thrilled at the fact that she was able to get the drop on such an extraordinary shinobi. "Can you come outside and practice with me? Jiji taught me a whole bunch of cool stuff!"

"N-not right now..." Naruto hesitated, "I'm really tired plum-chan, I need to get some rest."

Ume gazed up into his deep blue eyes, "it's lunch time... can you come downstairs and eat with me?"

Once again Naruto hesitated, still shaken by his instinctive actions. "I'm not very hungry."

"But you're so skinny, you have to eat something!" Ume demanded.

' _Jeez, sounds like she's been hanging out with Tsunade-baa a little too much,'_ he thought, recognizing the tone of the stubborn demand. "Okay, I'll have some lunch, but after that I'm going to bed," Naruto conceded.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Itachi)**_

"Long time no see, Itachi-kun," said a soft feminine voice as the owner tapped him playfully on the shoulder.

Itachi turned around, making a conscious effort to keep his movements smooth and relaxed. He didn't want to accidentally react violently out of instinct. Itachi's onyx eyes found themselves locked with a matching set of dark irises. He blinked twice before recognition took over and he found himself inches away from a brunette kunoichi in a jounin flak, smiling at him sweetly. "Hello Izumi-san," he replied, perplexed by the comforting sensation he felt the moment the two locked eyes.

"Izumi-san?" she said with a hint of teasing in her voice. "Don't act so formal with me Itachi-kun, you'll make me think you want nothing to do with me."

Itachi was momentarily at a loss for words. ' _When did she... wow...'_ Itachi's eyes unintentionally shifted downwards to take in the full measure of the woman's beauty.

Itachi's gaze didn't go by unnoticed as he hoped it would, and Izumi's sweet smile morphed into a seductive grin, "you like what you see, Itachi-kun?" she said innocently, contrary to the wink that followed the comment.

"I- uh... how have you been Izumi-chan?" he corrected the suffix.

"Oh, I'm Izumi- _chan_ now?" she teased, getting a kick out of Itachi's flustered state. It wasn't what she was expecting, but she was pleased with his reaction nonetheless. When Itachi respond she decided to ease up on the teasing, "I've been good," she said, still holding her kind smile. "I heard you got back and decided to come see you. Your mother let me in, she said I could find you back here."

"Oh, yeah. We just got back yesterday," Itachi replied, regaining his bearing. ' _What the hell was that? You've never acted like that before!"_ Itachi scolded himself.

"You've been gone a long time, we all thought you were dead," Izumi said, her smile indicating her pleasure that he was in fact alive. "How is Naruto-kun and Kabuto?"

"It's just me and Naruto," Itachi said, keeping the anger from his face.

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that..." Izumi said awkwardly. She internally scolded herself for bringing up potentially bad memories. "If you don't mind me asking... what happened?" she asked, unable to curb her curiosity.

"He... died..." Itachi said, averting his gaze for the first time, fixating it on a loose floorboard, making a mental note to fix it later.

"Oh... I- sorry..." Izumi scolded herself once more. This conversation had quickly taken a turn for the worst and she was desperate for a change of subject.

"Yeah..." Itachi replied, equally as intent on finding a new topic. "So, jounin huh? Congratulations!"

"Oh this old thing?" Izumi replied, inwardly relieved that she didn't scare him off. "Yeah, they finally took note of my skills," she said playfully.

"Oh yeah?" Itachi grinned. "And what 'skills' might those be?"

"You know, a little of this, a little of that."

"Really? That much huh? I'd like to see these skills in action," Itachi said.

Izumi's cheeks reddened slightly, "I'd like to see what you have to offer as well," she said with a flirtatious smile. ' _Damn! Did I really just say that? FUCK!'_ her blush darkened a shade, out of embarrassment this time.

Itachi paid no mind to the double meaning of her comment, "I'm going to help Sasuke train this week, but if you're not busy we can get together for a spar sometime next week," he offered.

"It's a date!" Izumi responded, with slightly too much enthusiasm.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Four years earlier)**_

After a month of searching without any results, Naruto and Itachi finally caught their first break. In a matter of seconds the two Konoha jounin has the four untransformed curse reapers, disarmed, bound and gagged, with access to their chakra firmly sealed off.

Itachi, in a rather flashy display of dominance, pinned the curse reapers to the ground with the skeletal arms of his red-orange Susanoo.

"Now that we have your attention," Naruto said playfully, the lack of mirth in his voice was unsettling, "we have a few questions we would like to ask you."

"We'll never tell ya nothin!" one of the shinobi replied.

"I don't need you to tell the truth. The fact that I'm allowing you the opportunity to say _anything at all_ is a mercy that none of you deserve." Naruto's eyes narrowed as he paced back and forth, regarding their prisoners. "Itachi here could tear through your mind faster than you could murder a small family, sever their head and display them outside their home..." Naruto's face grew dark and his voice adopted an accusing tone, "then proceed to do unspeakable acts to their headless corpses."

Itachi scowled and inadvertently added pressure to their throats, threatening to crush their trachea.

"Yeah," the blonde growled, "we've been hunting you four since yesterday." The sharp spike in fear he felt from all their chakra signatures was all the evidence the sensor needed to condemn the scum to death. "Now tell me what I want to know before I gut you and force your own entrails down your throats." The threat was merely spoken, quietly, but it seemed to linger in the frigid January air.

"I- I'm not tellin ya shit!" The same shinobi said once more, albeit with far less conviction.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "suit yourself." The other three watched in horror as a mahogany tendril shot out of the ground and curled around the noncompliant curse reapers throat, lifting him up in the air. Naruto held out two fingers, not that he had to, and directed wind chakra to slowly slice the man's stomach open from sternum to groin, making a spectacle of the bloody intestines spilling out.

The man let out a blood curdling shriek, beginning to babble and plead non coherently. Tears streamed freely down his face as he offered empty promises and professed his remorse for his actions.

Naruto and Itachi both scowled at the man's pleas for mercy. Any reservations either of them has about performing such an inhumane execution were out the window when they saw the pitiful man cry for his life. He was a murderer, a rapist, a thief, taking whatever he desired from whomever he could without the slightest respect for human life or decency. The victims for all his crimes ranged from the ages of 8 to late 60's, and that probably wasn't his limit, he just never came across any victims any younger or older to rape and murder. Not necessarily in that order.

A second tendril snaked its way up, cradling the falling intestines and unceremoniously forced the pink entrails down the man's throat.

The otherwise silent night air was filled with the sound of weakening muffled sobs combined with the sickening gagging of the man trying to choke down air through his obstructed windpipe. After a minute the man simply hung there,spilled intestines bloated due to the small intestine stuffed inside itself. Naruto tossed the limp corpse down next to their other captives before regarding the three remaining prisoners once more.

"Don't think you'll get off that easy," he said just loud enough for them to hear.

...

The other three complied without any hesitation after the death of their comrade, if you could call him that, and Naruto and Itachi rewarded their compliance with quick, less gruesome deaths.

They were both relieved that they didn't have to resort to such measures a second time. In reality they didn't have to go so far to begin with, but from what they saw in the aftermath of that squads pillage of fishing village after fishing village over the course of the past day they knew they deserved to suffer tenfold what they had dealt out.

The two 13 year old Konoha prodigies made their way northwest, to where they now knew they would find the facility where many of the rebellion survivors were currently imprisoned. They now knew their old friend and mentor Zabuza was among them.

Earlier that week Naruto and Itachi made to invade the town that Zabuza and Juzo were rumored to be held captive and publicly tortured only to find the skinless corpse of Juzo displayed among the wreckage of the abandoned village.

The two lifted up the hoods of their traveling cloaks as their brief leave from the freezing rain came to an abrupt end. Kiri in the winter had proved itself to be nothing short of miserable over the past month due to the weather alone. The temperature never dropped low enough for the water to freeze, so the almost constant rain would soak them to the bone and the near freezing temperatures would sap the body heat away from them.

They had to be careful about making fires whenever they stopped to rest, for Naruto seldomly sensed fewer than half a dozen enemy shinobi in any direction at any given time. It wasn't surprising to either of them that they were being followed so easily; they weren't making much of an effort to conceal their actions, but it was annoying to have to keep on the move constantly, never stopping to rest for longer than a handful of hours.

The isolation was wearing on them as well. If it wasn't for the presence of the other they both knew they wouldn't be able to stay sane living like this for any extended period. Normally they were able to communicate wordlessly with ease, which hadn't changed, but now more than ever before they could be found chatting about stuff of little consequence. Neither of them would voice it aloud, but they were both eternally grateful for the others presence.

After just over an hour they found themselves in front of what appeared to be the entrance to some underground facility. The entrance wasn't ornate by any means, in fact it looked poorly made and hastily built, if the entrance was any indication of the state the facility was likely to be in they were in for a miserable time.

After deactivating all the traps set by either dismantling the seal or applying the appropriate counterseal the two carefully made their way inside.

The long desolate tunnel before them was dank and gave off a faint smell of rot. They removed their traveling cloaks and stored them in the seal they each wore on their left wrist. Itachi was able to pick up at least that much fuinjutsu while on the move.

Itachi activated his three tomoe sharingan, expecting an ambush at any moment while Naruto felt forward with his sensory jutsu. The tunnel continued the same way for half a mile before they found themselves at a single iron door at the end of the corridor.

Naruto stepped forward and inspected the entrance for any traps but found none. What he did find were stains from poorly cleaned up collections of blood, he assumed from the injured captives. What was odd, however, was that the blue eyed sensor was unable to sense anything within the chamber.

"There's a chakra concealment seal somewhere inside." he decided after a moment. "We're going in blind, and while we're in there I won't be able to use my sensory abilities once we're in there."

Itachi nodded in understanding, Sharingan still active. "I've got your back," he replied, well aware of the disadvantage his friend would be in without his highly developed sixth sense.

Naruto offered a slight half smile as thanks before placing an open palm on the steel door and releasing a powerful burst of wind chakra.

The door imploded inwardly and itachi raised an eyebrow in respect for the blonds mastery over the element.

It was eerily quiet within the chamber, the only sound being their light footfalls, which echoed off the stone walls surrounding them. It was pitch black, so dark that Itachi, even with his sharingan active, was barely able to make out the faint outlines unidentified objects strewn across the floor.

Itachi's head whipped to the left, then to the right, then directly above them as his sharingan picked up on movement. Itachi reached to the side and tapped Naruto's hand in morse code, signalling that they were surrounded.

Naruto tried to extend his awareness, forcing chakra into his sensory jutsu, only to gain about 5 yards of awareness. The hidden seal siphoned the chakra he exerted, allowing the sensor to pinpoint it's location. Chakra concealment seals, normally used to deprive sensory types of their sixth sense usually worked in one of two ways, either it exerted a large amount of ambient chakra into the surrounding area, overwhelming the sensor, or like this one, it siphone all ambient chakra in the air into the seal preventing the sensor from being able to read chakra signatures. Each had their benefits and their shortcomings, the first type, normally the more effective of the two, was temporary, requiring a large amount of chakra to be pushed out to saturate the area, eventually depleting itself. The second weakness was that a powerful sensor like Naruto could easily pinpoint the seals location if they followed the siphon of their own chakra burst.

If they were surrounded, that meant Naruto would be hard pressed to make it to the seal without opposition. "I guess I'll have to rely on my other senses for now," he smirked, unsealing Odenta. "Itachi, light?"

Itachi inhaled deeply and blew out a massive fireball.

They both blinked in confusion. Aside from a brief faint glow, which revealed the truly shitty situation they were in, the light from the fireball was nonexistent. They both felt the intense heat radiating off the ball of fire, but there was no light. The confusion was coupled with a sense of unease. The brief glow revealed a massive atrium along with hundreds of grey skinned, eyeless creatures. Said creatures were nearly eight feet tall, with long lanky limbs and faceless heads with 5 distinctive slits extending outwards from a single point in the center of the face.

"What. The fuck. Are those?" Naruto said incredulously, only to receive a single spine tingling cry from directly above him.

Itachi unsealed Onimaru and shoved Naruto to the side, driving the tip of his sword directly through the center point of the creatures face. "I can see follow their movement, but not much else!" Itachi cried out, attempting to make himself heard above the cries of the other hundred monsters."

"Cover me! I'm going for the seal!" Naruto shouted, not waiting for a reply he dashed towards the center of the room.

Itachi followed close behind, leaping to the blonde's left and bringing Onimaru down on the back of another creature's neck as it pounced towards Naruto's flank. Itachi did a cartwheel, bouncing over Naruto's head and delivering a hard kick to the side of another monster's head, sending it sailing into another pursuer. Still upside down, his dark grey hair brushing against Naruto's blonde, he exhaled another fireball behind them at a small group pursuing them from the rear. This time there was no glow that radiated from the fireball.

The slender beasts let out a pained shriek, but charged straight through the inferno.

Itachi landed to Naruto's right and swung a now wind enhanced Onimaru directed at the midsection of yet another monster. This time the blade let off an audible clink, otherwise leaving the attacking creature unharmed. It swiped down at a surprised Itachi with a large clawed hand, which Itachi was unable to avoid. The claws tore through the Uchiha's mesh armor, cutting into his chest and abdomen. Itachi let out a grimace and Naruto doubled back, slashing blindly with Odenta and catching the towering figure deep across its chest.

"They have chakra resistant hides!" Itachi sputtered through a pained breath. He felt lethargic. As if his energy had been slashed away along with his flesh.

"That's unfortunate," Naruto replied, slicing in the direction of an oncoming shriek, catching the offender from hip to shoulder.

"And I think their claws rip away chakra if they hit you," Itachi analyzed, regaining his breath. "Susanoo will be useless against them."

"That's extra unfortunate." Naruto grunted. "You need a break?" He asked with a teasing smile, not that Itachi could see it.

"Fuck you," Itachi replied with a smile of his own.

The creatures were fast and strong, with strange abilities to boot, but their assault was wild and uncoordinated. Naruto and Itachi both assumed they were incapable of higher level thinking, which was really their only advantage at the moment. That and the fact that the creatures has no perception of stealth, as they would cry out in their spine tingling warcry the moment the moved to attack.

"The seal might have to wait," Itachi said, seeing a large conglomeration of monsters directly in the path they were moving towards.

"You want to do this the old fashioned way?" Naruto replied.

"Kill everything?"

"Kill everything."

...

After a nearly endless assault which lasted the better part of an hour, both Naruto and Itachi found themselves back to back among an army of dead monsters.

"Do you see anymore?" Naruto asked, through heavy pants.

"Nothing," Itachi replied, his eyes having adjusted slightly to the oppressive inky darkness.

"Good. I'm going to deactivate the chakra concealment seal, and see what I can do about this darkness." Naruto leapt to the ceiling 40 feet above and began to working on dismantling the seal.

Itachi knelt down to inspect the dead monster closest to him. It looked like something straight out of a horror story. He prodded at the slack flaps that existed in place of a mouth. The inside of the mouth was lined with countless rows of sharp needlelike teeth, all leading to what appeared to be a three point beak. ' _Creepy,'_ he thought, standing up.

"Whoa shit!" He heard Naruto curse, followed by a clamor and crash as the darkness lost its oppressive inky quality.

Itachi produced a torch from his storage seal and lit it, making his way over to his blonde friend. ' _This storage seal is easily the most convenient thing I've ever seen,'_ he mused to himself.

"Well the seal's taken care of," Naruto chuckled, rubbing what moments ago was a knot on the crown of his head. "It wasn't so much of a seal as it was a sensory deprivation array," Naruto explained. "Luckily there was nothing in it to block sound."

"These creatures don't have eyes," Itachi observed, "they probably use sound as their primary sense."

"That makes sense," Naruto said, making his way back onto his feet. The blonde looked around, gathering his bearing. Naruto produced a small storage scroll from his wrist and sealed one of the dead monsters inside, then sealing the scroll back into his wrist. "The captives are this way." He said, regaining a stoic demeanor, walking towards the far end of the chamber.

XXX END CHAPTER 31 XXX

Hey guys, so now we're into the third arc of this fic and I couldn't be more excited. It's going to start off with pretty slow starts of each chapter where we will see Naruto and Itachi interacting with their families and the rest of the village as they ease their way back into the fold. As you may have noticed, our two heros have a lot of issues now after 4 years of war. I've been reading other fanfics and time travel anime (re: zero, and steins; gate to name a few) and I find the haunted broken characters among the 'less experienced" characters extremely interesting. Especially when they have their freakouts but try to play it cool for the most part.

The second part of the chapters are going to revolve around their experiences in Kiri, which is going to be brutal. We are going to watch their slow decent into darkness, almost to the point where you don't recognize them anymore, their redemption, and the events that lead up to them deciding to return to Konoha.

Ant to those of you who are upset about me killing Samui, check it out, I love shows and movies that aren't afraid to kill off main characters (Game of thrones, Walking dead, lost) and one of the things I hate most about Shonen anime is their unwillingness to do the same. So in this fic there are going to be characters you love who die gruesome deaths, and characters you hate that seem to survive no matter what. People die. It's the nature of the beast.


	32. Chapter 32: Family Bonding

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 32: Family bonding

(with Itachi)

"Izumi-san, Itachi-niisan and I are going to practice kenjutsu tomorrow. Do you want to come?" Sasuke asked.

Izumi smiled down at the younger Uchiha. Sasuke's personality had suddenly taken a sharp turn for the better since Itachi's return. Before where the boy has been moody, if not simply pissed off and annoyed all the time, he was now back to the cheerful Sasuke of his youth.

"I'm sorry, I can't tomorrow. I'm going out on a mission in the morning," she said in an apologetic tone. "I'll only be gone for a couple of days, so I'll join you guys when I get back."

Itachi smiled at the beautiful kunoichi who had once been one of his best friends within the clan. That wasn't exactly saying much though, since before the coup Itachi did his best to keep his distance from the borderline fanatical clan members. "We look forward to it."

Both of their gazes lingered on each other for several seconds, and Izumi felt her heart flutter as she saw Itachi's almost indistinguishable pupil dilate for a split second.

Sasuke glanced between the two several times before he rolled his eyes and stood up to leave. "I'm going to go get ready for bed. I have to be well rested if I'm going to beat you tomorrow."

The staring contest came to an abrupt end and Itachi too got to his feet. "Uh, I'm um, I'm going to make some tea. Would you like a cup?" He asked, hoping to kami she would say yes. 'Why am I so fucking awkward around her!?' he cursed mentally. She seemed so cool and collected, but he seemed to act weird every time he opened his mouth.

She regarded him for a moment, "ye-" she squeaked, 'Damn! Here I go acting weird again!" Izumi cleared her throat before starting again. "Yes please."

Itachi held out his hand, allowing her to grasp it, and hoisted her up. His heart did somersaults the moment her soft, slender hand grasped his rough scarred one. He gently hoisted her up, his gaze lingering on the soft features of the woman's face.

With Izumi now on her feet Itachi led the way into the kitchen. He opened the kitchen door, flicking on the lights, and moved to the stove to grab and fill the tea kettle. Izumi hopped up and took a seat on the kitchen counter, waiting patiently for Itachi no make his way to the cupboard she was conveniently blocking.

Itachi set the kettle down on the glowing coils of the stovetop before fe paused for a moment.

"Is everything okay, Itachi?" Izumi asked, watching the younger Uchiha frozen in place.

Itachi shook his head quickly turning to face Izumi with a sheepish grin on his face, "I don't know where the tea is," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head in a very Naruto Esque manner.

Izumi let out a giggle, turning her upper body so she could reach the cupboard behind her. "What kind of tea do you want? She asked, taking stock of their options."

"Green tea is fine," Itachi responded, gazing at Izumi's curvaceous body while she wasn't looking. The way she was sitting on the counter accentuated the contrast between her hips and her waist. His eyes lingered on the smooth slope of her arching back as she twisted and reached for the tea. Itachi felt a sudden urge to grab her by the hips and wrap her legs around him, pulling her into a passionate embrace, but he managed to restrain himself and stay glued to his spot by the stove.

Itachi turned and opened another cabinet to procure some tea cups for them to use, and Izumi turned back around to toss him the tea bags. She was disappointed to see that he wasn't responding to her rather blatant display of her assets. Izumi hopped down from that counter and walked to the other side of the kitchen, taking a seat in a similar fashion on a counter much closer to the stove.

Itachi turned around to find Izumi, sitting in the same manner that had him smitten moments ago, yet this time she was two feet away from him at most. Itachi took a step back, trying his best not to reveal his nervousness. His hand was shaking slightly and his heart was racing inside his chest. The fact that he was attracted to the 18 year old Uchiha woman was no surprise to him; he had been with attractive women in the past. What did surprise him was his reaction to her presence. The normally calm and collected Itachi was constantly flustered when speaking to her. His body reacted in ways he was completely unfamiliar with, like he has a frog in his throat or butterflys in his stomach, and now his hand was shaking and his heart was racing. Why? What was happening to make him feel like such a small boy around her, he'd been in war for over 4 years, killing hundreds, most likely thousands. The only person he truly felt he could never be emotionally distant from was his best friend who'd been by his side through it all. But here he was now. With this girl. A girl who got him flustered by being in his presence alone. A girl who he didn't reel away from at the mere suggestion of physical contact. A girl who he wanted nothing more than to grab by the hips and pull into a passionate embrace.

It happened faster than Izumi would have ever expected. One moment she was looking at his thin, yet welcoming lips, longing for him to jump her already, and the next she found herself wrapped around his thin, lightly muscled frame.

Itachi placed on hand firmly on the center of Izumi's back, pulling her hips closer to his, while the other reached up and gently stroked her long, soft, chestnut hair. Izumi shuddered slightly as his fingertips lightly brushed against the back of her neck and her upper back.

Izumi, recovering from her surprise, closed her eyes and reached to place one hand on Itachi's lightly muscled shoulder, stroking up and down his well defined chest, reaching up with the other and pulling his head into an even tighter embrace. Izumi shifted her hips forward, positioning herself closer to him, and locked her ankles, wrapping her long, muscular legs around Itachi's waist.

After about a minute Izumi's lips parted, inviting Itachi to do the same. He followed her lead and prodded the inside of her mouth with his tongue, savoring the sweet taste and meeting her tongue which was raring for a wrestling match.

A rush of excitement ran through his body like a sudden burst of electricity, and Itachi, with his nostrils flaring with lust, lifted Izumi off the counter.

Izumi let out a soft squeel of surprise, but didn't protest to his display of control. Itachi spun around and laid Izumi down on the kitchen table, not exactly gently, but he has the good grace to place a gentle hand on the back of her head to keep her from smacking it against the light wooden surface.

Izumi sucked in a deep longing breath as she felt Itachi's weight on her hips and chest. To her disappointment Itachi pulled away from their tongue wrestling match, but she found herself in an equally pleasant position as he began to kiss her neck and collarbone. Izumi let out a soft moan, arching her back and tilting her head, allowing the young man access to her neck. Izumi reached up with her right hand and began to gently stroke Itachi's dark grey hair, lost in the moment.

Izumi let out a growl of displeasure as the kettle began to squeal. Itachi, now released from the spell the beautiful woman has over him, looked up, his longing eyes meeting the disappointed gaze of the chestnut haired Uchiha woman. Slowly Itachi climbed off of her, silently making his way to the stove to pour the hot water into the mugs.

Izumi sat up slowly, adjusting her clothes before climbing off the kitchen table and making her way behind Itachi. She wrapped her slender arms around his torso pressing her chest against his back. Itachi didn't even tense up from the surprise physical contact, he simply finished pouring the water before placing the kettle back on the stovetop and resting a rough calloused hand on the back of Izumi's. Izumi Nuzzled her head comfortably in between Itachi's shoulder blades as he finished preparing the tea.

Itachi turned around slowly, Izumi loosening her grip slightly to allow him to do so and he placed his hands on the gentle curve of her waist. Suppressing the sudden urge to grab her and throw her onto the floor Itachi grabbed the two mugs and led the beautiful brunette back outside where they sat on the back porch, falling into a comfortable silence.

Izumi edged her way closer to him and he responded by reaching over with his left arm, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her into his lap. Itachi leaned back on the wall behind him as Izumi made herself more comfortable, shifting her legs so that they were between Itachi's and nuzzling the back of her head into the crook of Itachi's neck.

Itachi gently stroked the brunettes thigh, with his other hand still resting on the curve of her waist, lingering closer to her hips than her ribs. He absently looked up to the stars in the night sky. He noted that the sky itself seemed to be glowing, it was clear enough for him to barely see the faint whisps of the milky way.

The two stayed there, simply enjoying the other's presence long into the night, until the faint orange glow of the early summer sun stirred them from their comfort.

"I should go," Izumi said, her voice cracking slightly from hours of unuse.

"I know," Itachi replied, yet his hold on her remained tight.

Izumi contemplated just staying there, but ultimately decided that if she didn't move now then she would be even more hard pressed to do so later. She stirred in Itachi's lap, and Itachi released his grip of her body somewhat reluctantly.

Izumi smiled at his reluctance and spun around to straddle him, pulling his head into a passionate kiss. Itachi's hands reached for her plump ass, pulling her closer to him. Izumi broke off the kiss and looked down into his charcoal eyes, noting how shockingly old they appeared compared to the rest of him. She placed her hands on each of his pectorals and smiled seductively, wiggling her ass playfully. "Maybe when I get back we can do more than just sit here all night," she teased with a wink.

"All night, huh?" Itachi replied with a slight half smile. "Sounds good to me." the two locked longing gazes but after a moment Izumi climbed off his lap, giggling at his affronted expression.

Without another word she turned and walked away, leaving Itachi to watch her exaggerated hip movements.

'...' Itachi's mind was blank as he watched her walk off, and he slumped back and sighed once she was out of sight. 'What are you doing?' he asked himself. 'You can't go through that again...' his mind wandered back to Yugito and the heartbreak he felt having the woman he loved taken away from him. He blamed himself for her fate, to this day the weight of her death was a constant burden on his soul. He felt an intense guilt rise up from his stomach to his throat. Not only was he responsible for her death, but he was accepting happiness he didn't deserve. He was accepting the happiness that he failed to protect for Yugito. It couldn't happen again. "Izumi is off limits," he croaked, choking back the tears welling in his eyes as he wallowed in his memories.

XXXXXXXXXX

(Later that day)

"So Izumi huh?" Naruto replied after listening to his friends account of the night prior. "How do you feel about it?"

Itachi hesitated. He shifted himself so his back was no longer up against the tree on the edge of their old training grove, laying down in the soft grass and gazing at the lazy white clouds through the break in the canopy above. It astounded him how much it had changed over the past four years. Many things had changed. "I think I could be happy with her," he said almost too quiet for Naruto to hear.

Naruto didn't have to hear him though, simply sensing his chakra when he was talking about Izumi was enough for him to know that his best friend had stumbled across something special. However, Naruto knew better. "You have to stop blaming yourself." Naruto mumbled half heartedly.

"You still blame yourself." Itachi replied blankly.

"I know..." He didn't even try to deny it. The two knew each other far too well to possibly lie.

"Then why should I forgive myself if you won't do the same?"

"Because you said you could be happy with her." Naruto argued. "I've had three chances at finding happiness. After Samui I figured 'third time's the charm,' and look how that turned out." Naruto's tone filled with scorn at the last part.

Itachi remained silent. An 'I told you so' had no place between the two of them. Even if Itachi had told him so.

"I told you, never again. Not for me. I will never allow myself to love again, but you don't need to carry that burden, Itachi. Be happy. Be happy enough for both of us."

Itachi sighed and closed his eyes. "Wanna spar?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Only taijutsu. I don't think the villagers would appreciate anything more."

XXXXXXXXXX

(Namikaze residence, that night)

Naruto and Itachi walked through the front door, Itachi covered in bruises, for Naruto's had already faded. However the blood on his torn clothing was unmistakably his own.

"What the hell happened to you two?" Tsunade asked, her voice a mixture of worry and annoyance.

"Training," Naruto responded, having the good grace to give her a sheepish grin. Itachi's grin was less sheepish, bordering on amused.

"You two know you're not supposed to be doing any strenuous activity for the next two months." Tsunade scolded.

The two teenagers would have rolled their eyes, but instead settled for an apologetic look.

Kushina looked at the two boys with a stern expression from beside the blonde sannin. "You two go get cleaned up. Everyone will be over for dinner in an hour."

The two nodded and walked up the stairs. "Itachi, when you're done let me take a look at those bruises," Tsunade instructed.

An hour later both teenage jounin were cleaned and dressed in comfortable civilian clothes, lounging around the back yard in the comfortable silence they were known to share. Hiruzen, who had only showed up several minutes ago, stood by the window, silently observing them. He had no doubt that they were both fully aware of his thoughtful gaze, but either they didn't care or they were trying their hardest to look like they didn't care.

A faint smile was on the old man's lips as he watched the boy he considered a grandson looking more at ease than he had been since his return. The tension in his shoulders was still there, the nervous glances were still present, even the way his right hand subtly lingered near the storage seal on his wrist remained. But it was all far less prominent in the presence of the Uchiha. Sarutobi noticed that Itachi also shared many of the same mannerisms as Naruto, along with a very subtle nervous twitch of his right thumb.

The old bearded man let out a soft sigh.

"They aren't normal teenagers, are they?" A deep soft voice rang from behind him.

"No, Minato... They're not..."

"Do you think they'll ever recover?" The young Hokage asked.

"To some extent... I doubt either of them will end up running a bakery," Hiruzen said humorously, "but they'll live some semblance of a normal life."

"You know..." Minato trailed off for a brief moment, "they told us what happened in Kiri, but... I get a feeling that they haven't told us all of it... or even half of it for that matter." Hiruzen nodded slowly. "I haven't told anyone this, but... when they first got here... and I saw them... I told Inoichi to sift through and attempt to repair any mental damage they may have suffered,"

Hiruzen raised his eyebrows slightly, it wasn't uncommon practice for the Yamanaka clan to perform more drastic forms of psychological therapy, especially with war veterans, but the veterans never took very well to their mind being tampered with. "And?"

"And nothing." Minato replied, "actually, that's not true... nothing happened to them... But Inoichi said that their minds acted out. Violently." Minato took a breath, adopting his Hokage face over his fatherly expression. "It isn't unheard of for someone with extreme willpower to overcome the Yamanaka clan's jutsu, but those two didn't subside to it for even a second." He explained. "Inoichi said that, with both of them, it was like trying to dive headfirst into a wall of sharpened kunai. They didn't even flinch. 'It was like the first time was a warning... but the second time they lashed out.'" Minato quoted Inoichi's exact words. "When they tried again the therapists passed out on the spot due to some sort of mental anguish."

Hiruzen looked at the young hokage with interest. "What was it? A counter jutsu?" His mind raced through infinite possibilities of what it could have been. What had just been described was unheard of. Even if one resisted the Yamanaka technique, pain of the casters end was never a consequence.

"Is it possible that they're just that strong?" Minato asked, casting out the idea of a counter jutsu.

They both looked out the window once more, only to find the two teenagers were no longer there. They heard the back door close and the two Hokage made their way into the dining room.

"Hello, Jiji," he greeted, finding himself a seat at the table. He took a seat at the corner of the table, back facing against the wall so he could observe the room in its entirety with little effort. Itachi took the seat to Naruto's right. They kept their chairs slightly pushed back, enough so that they could react to any danger quickly and unimpeded, but not so much so that it was obvious. This choice in seating did not go unnoticed by the seasoned shinobi present. Both Hiruzen and Tsunade shared a concerned glance, slight frowns resting on their faces.

"Hello, Naruto," Hiruzen greeted politely. "Welcome home." He was careful not to use phrases like 'it's been a while,' or 'how have you been.' despite his cordial appearance, no one was certain of their mental states.

"It's good to be back," Naruto answered honestly. His tone, however, betrayed him, revealing some of the discomfort he felt at being the center of attention.

Ume got up and moved to take the seat to Naruto's left, scooting her chair closer to his. 'I still can't sense her,' Naruto thought, giving his sister a welcoming smile.

"Naruto-chan," Mito started, "Sasuke-teme says that Itachi-san is going to start training with him this week. Do you think you can help me and Ashina with or training too?"

Naruto glanced over at Itachi who smiled and shrugged. The blonde turned to his eldest sister and smiled as his eyes met the excited state of Mito's mismatched orbs, "of course Mito-chan! Tomorrow we can go to the training fields and you can show me what you already know and we can work from there." he replied with a hint of excitement. Before Kiri training with his siblings was always one of his favorite pastimes.

"Can me and Konohamaru come too?" Ume asked with pleading eyes.

"I don't mind unless Jiji has something for you," Naruto said ruffling Ume's red hair and looking towards Hiruzen questioningly.

"Not at all," he replied with a smile. 'At least he's the same loving brother as always,' he thought.

"Where's Shizune-san and Rin-san?" Naruto asked curiously. Usually when they had family gatherings such as this the two kunoichi were hard pressed to be left out.

"They'll both be over later," Kushina said, placing the food on the table, Minato close behind carrying a large ham. "Shizune doesn't get off from the hospital for another hour and Rin had to finish some paperwork for her jounin instructor certification."

Naruto's eyes flashed over to Mito and Ashina, both of whom were practically slobbering at the ham in their father's hands. "Jounin instructor huh? Anyone else we know taking a team this year?" Naruto asked, eyes flickering between Minato and the twins.

Hiruzen observed the apparent protectiveness and concern on his former pupils face.

"Kakashi will be taking a team," Minato spoke up, "that is if he decides to pass them this year."

"I don't see why he's so hard on his gennin every single year," Kushina huffed indignantly. "Four classes and he hasn't taken a sing one."

"You have to be careful with who you teach what," Naruto muttered, slightly too loud to go by unnoticed. He thought back to his own genin team... one particular member to be exact. Itachi's face remained mostly blank, but he crossed his arms and nodded slightly in agreement.

Minato regarded his son for a moment before deciding to let the comment slide, "it's up to the jounin to decide whether or not he or she wants to take the genin under their wing, Kushina. It wouldn't be fair to the students or to the instructor to stick them with a jounin who doesn't want them." Kushina scoffed but didn't say anything in return. Minato smiled at his wife's distaste and turned his attention back to his eldest son. "Asuma will also be taking a team, as will Kurenai and Hana."

"Hana?" Naruto's ears perked up at that, "Inuzuka Hana?"

"The very same," Minato replied, setting the platter down in the center of the table. "She's become an outstanding kunoichi over the years, and displayed the skills and maturity required of a jounin instructor."

"Maturity? You're going to say 'maturity' when Kakashi walks around all day reading Jiraiya's filth?" Kushina snorted.

"I'll admit, Jiraiya-sensei has some... interesting takes on what constitutes literature, but that being said, ones prefered reading material doesn't necessarily make them an unfit sensei," Minato argued back. "Just look at what Jiraiya did with me."

This time it was Tsunade's turn to snort in a fit of laughter. "Minato, if it wasn't for Kushina beating the ever living shit out of you the first time she found one of those books in your apartment you'd probably still be a middle of the pack chunin!"

Naruto cracked a small half smile at his father's expense, "the first time?" he asked, "there were others after that?"

Minato's cheeks turned a light shade of red. "Well... as a shinobi it's important that you learn how to keep sensitive documents safe. It was all in the interest of training."

"Yeah, whatever Minato," Kushina said, giving him a light slap on his arm. "You heard Tsunade-sama, if it wasn't for me you'd still be struggling to throw a kunai straight." She leaned forward and raising herself up onto her toes she cupped Minato's still pink cheek and gave him a light peck on his other side.

Dinner went by pleasant enough, though Hiruzen noticed that Naruto would tense slightly at the hint of any sudden movement, and Itachi's eyes would briefly flash red at the same time. He also noticed that Ume almost instinctively knew when her eldest brother was distressed and would calm his nerves by drawing his attention towards her.

When dinner was finished Kushina stood up and collected the dirty dishes from the table as Minato moved into the kitchen to prepare the desert.

"Come in!" Kushina called from the kitchen when they heard a light knock at the door.

"Hey everyone!" Rin greeted, walking into the dining room with Shizune not far behind. "You're looking better, Naruto," she smiled. "When I saw you two days ago I thought you were about ready to fall over and die on us." Her eyes slid over to meet Itachi's. "How are you doing, Itachi? I hear you and Izumi are hitting it off," she said with a wink.

"Izumi?" Kushina said with a grin, noticing Itachi's light blush, "now that's a keeper!" She exclaimed with an over exaggerated thumbs up.

Ume, sensed both boy's discomfort and came to their rescue. "Naru-chan is going to start training me to be the strongest Kunoichi of all time!" She proclaimed.

Everyone except Mito smiled at the little girl sweetly.

"No way! I'm going to be the strongest Kunoichi ever," Mito responded. "And when that happens then I'm going to become the strongest Hokage the village has ever seen!"

'Well that's new,' Naruto thought, raising an eyebrow at the blonder of his two sisters.

Ashina rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, we've heard it all before Mito. You're going to become the greatest Hokage of all time, then the village will have no choice but to recognize you."

"I will! Kurama and I are already at 4 tails! You're just jealous because your half is a dick and he'll barely let you use 2!"

Naruto's head shot up. "They know?" he blurted out.

All eyes were once again on him. "Yes Naruto," Hiruzen replied. "Jiraiya and Rin have been training them to use the Kyuubi chakra over the past 4 years."

Naruto had a look of incredulity. His eyes shot to the right, cerulean meeting onyx. "This changes things," Naruto thought aloud, a wide smile spreading across his face. Naruto abruptly stood up from his chair and marched into the kitchen, Itachi close on his heels. "Tou-san. I need to talk to you. Now."

XXXXXXXXX

(Four years ago)

"Zabuza-san!" Naruto exclaimed, as they entered a dank foul smelling chamber. Naruto could sense that Zabuza was one of the few that was still alive. His cerulean gaze shifted over the maggot infested corpses, searching for any able bodied survivors for assistance.

"Hey.. brats," Zabuza mumbled quietly, trying his best to sound stronger than he really was. His body was nearly devoid of skin, some places with more layers peeled off than others, but nearly his entire body was encrusted in filthy black scabs; how the man had not yet died from infection in this disease ridden chamber was beyond him.

"Stay still Zabuza-san," Naruto ordered, producing 5 wood clones to go around and provide aid to the other living captives. The original divied up all the antibiotics and painkillers he has stored in his storage seal, he had no use for them thanks to his kekkei genkai, but you never knew when someone else would be in need of them. He also passed out some iodine along with anything else that could be used as a disinfectant or a dressing. He knew enough medical ninjutsu to stabilize most of the injured, but he would be unable to do anything if he couldn't kill the infection.

He knelt down beside his former mentor and took stock of his wounds, as soon as he took a breath through his nose, however, he gagged at the putrid stench radiating off the former member of the seven swordsmen; former because he no longer was in possession of the twin blades. "Zabuza-san..." Naruto whispered, "I have to remove your left arm and a significant portion of your chest..." Zabuza didn't reply, but Naruto could sense that he heard him. "The tissue is too corrupted, there's no way I can save it," he explained. "As for your skin... I may be able to graft some of my own onto you, but otherwise you will die..."

Zabuza nodded slightly, the scabs on his neck cracking and oozing out dark crimson blood. "Save the others first," he said after a moment of silence. "Don't worry about me right now, I'll last a longer than any of them will."

Naruto was hard pressed to argue with the man, and splitting his already chakra, he summoned another 8 wood clones to treat the other wounded. He was pleased to find that none of the others were in nearly as bad of shape as Zabuza was, but that didn't mean their situation was any less dire. Zabuza was a unique breed. He was the kind of man who would fight through any pain in order to survive and get his revenge on those who had harmed the people he cared for.

Naruto vaguely recognized the other survivors, mostly chunin or low level jounin from the rebellion, but there were more than a few dead he didn't recognize. He regarded Itachi with a glance.

The Uchiha was already on it, gently carrying the dead to a secluded corner of the chamber and stacking them neatly. Once he was done he prayed a silent prayer for the safety of their souls. Itachi wasn't a religious man by any means, but these men and women did not deserve the fate that had fallen on them, and he did truly wish for their peace in the next life. After he concluded his prayer and payed his respects to the deceased he lit the pyre ablaze, holding the Katon jutsu until the bodies were nothing more than a pile of ash. He slowly stepped forward and swept up their ashes, sealing them into a storage scroll. They didn't deserve to have their final resting place in such a horrible place.

Naruto made quick work of stabilizing his patients, he was no medical nin, they would still require weeks of rehabilitation, but none of them were at risk of dying any time soon. His clones were exhausted, having to overcompensate for their imperfect chakra control by pouring more healing chakra into the wounded than most medical nin would have ever been capable of.

Naruto made his way back to Zabuza, who hadn't moved at all. "Are you ready?" The blonde asked, receiving a slow nod in response. "This is going to hurt," he warned.

"Quit your babbling and get it over with," Zabuza grunted in resignation.

Naruto nodded his head, producing a dense wooden stick from his palm. "Bite down on this," he ordered. "Itachi, I need you to be ready to cauterize the wound as soon as I tell you to."

"Ready when you are," Itachi replied, already building up katon chakra. He moved the elemental chakra to his palm, ready to execute at a moment's notice.

Naruto nodded, impressed at Itachi's mastery of the fire element. Using a katon jutsu from anywhere but the mouth was insanely difficult, requiring significantly more chakra to actually activate the jutsu, let alone the chakra control required to contain it. The benefit of this, though, was that it allowed much more precise application of the fire, minimizing the risk of causing unnecessary damage.

Naruto placed the wooden dowel between Zabuza's sharpened teeth, and producing a chakra metal kunai from his storage seal and enhancing its cutting power with wind chakra he got to work. First severing the arm at the collarbone Zabuza howled in a fit of pain as he felt the blade cut clean through the nerves residing within the bone.

Zabuza was surprised at how well the stick held up between his shark like teeth as he chomped down on the dense wood. There was still a little bit of give, preventing him from shattering his teeth, but the wood held strong.

Naruto unceremoniously tossed the severed arm to the side, getting it out of his way, and he began to remove the infected muscle tissue surrounding the shoulder joint. Dark yellow pus oozed out of the newly opened wound, and Naruto consciously began to breathe through his mouth to prevent himself from gagging at the smell of the corruption. Naruto's heart sank as he tried to tune out the cries of pain he was causing. He knew this was vital to his comrades survival, but he hated that he was the cause of his suffering. 'No... I'm not the cause. Kabuto and those other Kiri bastards did this,' he thought through gritted teeth.

With the shoulder joint clear of infected tissue Naruto moved onto the pectoral muscle. The infection went much deeper than he initially anticipated, but thanks to Zabuza's significant muscle mass it hadn't spread to anywhere vital. "Itachi, cauterize the shoulder to stanch the bleeding," he ordered, shifting out of the way, allowing Itachi access to do his work.

Simultaneously Naruto sliced through the pussy, inflamed tissue of Zabuza's chest, while Itachi focused on burning the wound shut.

Zabuza let out a bloodcurdling shout of pain as it seemed like every nerve on his left side went wild. He even felt like he could feel the pain radiating off every nerve where his arm used to be. His teeth sank deeper into the dark colored wood, which still held strong beneath the pressure of his vice like bite.

Naruto suddenly backed away from Zabuza, "Itachi, his chest."

Itachi was already on it, as Naruto knew he would be, he had simply given the instructions because of the worry that was evident in his eyes.

Itachi seared the wound shut with third degree burns, leaving Zabuza to simply lay there seeing stars.

"How are you feeling Zabuza-san?" Itachi asked.

He spit out the wooden dowel, "like shit," Zabuza replied through tired pants, "how the fuck do you think I'm feeling?"

Itachi regarded the swordsman with a pleased smile, "well at least we know your personality hasn't changed."

"Yeah, he just wouldn't be Zabuza without it," Naruto chimed it, relieved that the swordsman still has the clarity of mind to act indignantly. "This next part will be far less painful," he continued seriously. "In fact it should relieve some of your pain." The blonde handed the chakra metal kunai to one of his wood clones and removed his jacket along with the mesh armor shirt he wore underneath. "Now I'm going to graft the skin from my back onto you," he said, "The only place we won't be able to cover is the burnt flesh, that will have to heal on its own." The blonde took a seat next to the wounded Zabuza. "You're going to have some nasty scars where the skin is going to fuse together, but something tells me you won't mind," he said, producing two more wooden dowels from his hands.

All but one of his wood clones, the one holding the chakra blade, made their way to the original, refusing with him and returning some of his lost chakra. "Itachi," Naruto said, "you're going to have to use medical ninjutsu to fuse my skin to Zabuza after my clone removes the scabs and covers the open wound with my skin." Itachi nodded, he had picked up some medical ninjutsu from Kabuto over the years, and while his chakra control wasn't the best he was still a capable healer.

Naruto placed one of the wooden dowels between Zabuza's teeth once more, the older man accepting gratefully, and placing the other between his own teeth.

...

It only took about 15 minutes, but the skin transplant was successful. Naruto sad still through the entire procedure, grunting slightly in pain as the skin on his back was peeled off only to regenerate in a matter of seconds. To his surprise the damaged area developed into scar tissue resulting from the repeated damage and regeneration, forcing the clone to start taking skin from the other side.

XXXXXXXXXX

(two weeks later)

Naruto, Itachi, and Zabuza, along with the other survivors were held up in a cave formation in the far northern, desolate forests of Mizu no Kuni. All the survivors had healed from their wounds and Zabuza was training with a large broadsword they had stolen off the body of a Kiri shinobi during their trek north.

Zabuza was particularly frustrated with his lack of arm, mostly because of the huge opening it created for enemies to exploit. No longer could he attack with wide overpowering swings of the massive blade like he was once able to with two arms, instead he was forced to adapt his fighting style into a more defensive tactic, parrying attacks and patiently waiting for a chance to counter.

Itachi had taken it upon himself to teach Zabuza some of the Uchiha kenjutsu style, which the prideful swordsman vehemently refused at first, only to relent in the end. He was making great progress in adapting the style into his own, but when Itachi suggested that he use a smaller blade for better maneuverability Zabuza looked ready to behead the Uchiha prodigy.

Zabuza's drive to return to training after such devastating injuries inspired the others to do the same.

Naruto spent most of of the limited daylight hours training them while Itachi and Zabuza trained apart from the rest of the group. It wasn't that they were snubbing the others, it was just that the others were unable to keep up with even a one armed Zabuza.

Naruto currently had them going through some advanced taijutsu katas, they were all chunin and jounin after all, as he approached the other two. "We need to talk," he said quietly. They were out of earshot from the rest of the group, so Naruto's extra caution has the other two curious as to what he has to say. Naruto jerked his head to the side, gesturing for the other two to follow him.

They walked to the edge of the forest surrounding the cave formations until Naruto came to an abrupt halt.

"We can't stay here any longer," he told them, receiving questioning stares in return. "They've been tracking us for the past two weeks," he explained, referring to the Kiri shinobi. "It hasn't been easy, but I've been able to mislead them until now, but I don't think I can deceive them any longer."

Zabuza nodded his head, scar tissue in his neck staying tight causing the strips of Naruto's implanted skin to stretch awkwardly. "I'm honestly surprised that we managed to evade them for so long. Kiri hunter nin are some of the best trackers in the world." His tone betrayed a hint of pride he held in his former corps.

"Where are we going to go?" Itachi asked.

"Our best option would be to cut our losses and head to Konoha. I'm sure the Hokage would accept the others as refugees," Naruto said slowly.

"Fuck that!" Zabuza exclaimed, not quite yelling. "There's no way in hell I'm leaving without making those bastards pay for what they did, and most likely are still doing, to the others!"

"I thought as much," Naruto voiced in agreement. "Still, I think we should at least allow the others to decide for themselves. The rebellion has always been volunteer only."

Itachi nodded his head. His deep tear troughs made the bags under his eyes look even heavier than they were. "That's all well and good, but I assume you have a plan B."

"I don't think we have any choice but to retreat to the west for now," Naruto said with a hint of regret. "We have been able to push the line this far on our own so far," he continued, addressing Itachi specifically, "but if we continue the way we have been the others will surely die, assuming the three of us don't join them."

"So you want to do a tactical retreat west and wait for the Kiri forces to spread out once more, that way their control over the rural areas of the country will remain weak and we can pick them off more easily," Itachi said, connecting the dots that Naruto had laid out for him.

"You're forgetting one thing," Zabuza added, "more and more Oto shinobi are entering Mizu no Kuni from the west every day."

"That is true, but Oto is not looking for us." Naruto flashed Zabuza a knowing smile, "not yet anyways..."

XXX END CHAPTER 32 XXX

Yeah yeah, I know, quick update. I got a long weekend for thanksgiving so I don't have to go back to work until monday. I decided not to go home this year, and all my friends went to visit family, so now that the Lions game is over I have a whole lot of time and nothing to do. Not that I have to justify my writing habits to anyone.

So here's the latest chapter. I threw in a lemon (kinda), I never thought I would feel so awkward writing those scenes but it's kind of uncomfortable for me. I don't think I have a ton of talent for it so just bear with me, I'm sure I'll get better with time.

Please let me know what you think, I do read the reviews and I take your constructive criticism into account. Please don't PM me asking for answers to questions, I won't answer any questions about the story outside my chapters. That being said, if you do have questions feel free to ask them in the reviews, it helps me catch plot holes before they happen and they really do contribute to the quality of the story.

So I updated this chapter, and an update for chapter 33 will soon follow. I thought about it and I knew it could be better. So... here you go.


	33. Chapter 33: Hostile Takeover

Chapter 33: Tactical Withdrawal. 

(Namikaze residence)

The urgency in Naruto's voice had everyone more than a little curious. The children had been put to bed, much to their displeasure and not after a very vocal protest from Mito, and now the adults were gathered in Minato's private study, awaiting Jiraiya's arrival.

Naruto requesting to have Jiraiya present was a surprise to Minato, his eldest son had never been a fan of the toad sannin.

Kakashi was also present, because Minato was planning on him being the Jounin instructor for one of the twins, he just hadden't decided which yet. The story of why Kakashi wasn't his usual 3 hours late was a rather short, but no less humorous story. Minato simply used the hiraishin to flash to the marked kunai Kakashi kept in his supply pouch, and brought the white haired Jounin back in the blink of an eye. Upon arrival Kakashi was caught reading from his always close copy of Icha Icha. Kushina had swiftly snatched the copy out of his hands and lit it ablaze before his very eyes.

Rin would have laughed at the scene of Kakashi bawling over the ashes of his favorite book if her eyes weren't so fixated on him with an angry glare.

"I can't believe you read that smut!" Rin scolded, sharingan spinning in her right eye. Itachi looked at it curiously. She was normally able to control the doujutsu, or better yet Ibuso was able to control it by suppressing the unique chakra of the kekkei genkai with biju chakra. That is unless she was particularly emotional about something, whether it be anger, sadness, joy or annoyance, I did not matter. "What would Obito say if he saw you reading that?"

Itachi rolled his eyes, "who do you think gave me my first copy?" Kakashi asked blandly.

"What? No..." Rin said, reeling in shock. Her eyes shot to Naruto and Itachi, as if pleading for some sort of evidence to the contrary.

Naruto cringed awkwardly as he produced his own orange book from his storage seal. "Sorry Rin-san..." Naruto said apologetically. It was indeed a gift from his deceased sensei; the inside cover read 'To one of my prized pupils. Congratulations on your promotion to Jounin. I know you're still a little too young to buy this on your own so here you go. You've grown into quite the accomplished young shinobi. I look forward to seeing how far you'll go... Obito'.

Rin's eyes turned to Itachi who was holding up a red copy of a later volume with a similar inscription written on it.

"The love of my life was a closet pervert and a horrible influence," Rin's head dropped and a proverbial rain cloud appeared over her head.

"Yeah he was!" Jiraiya cheered, entering through the window, per usual. "And watch what you're calling smut young lady! That right there is a literary masterpiece!" He boasted, holding Naruto's copy of Icha Icha vol. 1 in front of him triumphantly.

Tsunade snatched the orange paperback book out of Jiraiya's hand. "This is smut if I've ever seen it!" she growled, her eyes narrowed on the youngest blonde present. "How could you read something like this, Naruto? I thought I raised you better than that!"

Kushina's eyes narrowed at the older woman. Tsunade had never forgiven her or Minato for their treatment of Naruto growing up, and the last Senju never passed up an opportunity to remind her of it. Eyes flickered in Kushina's direction as they all felt the killing intent radiating off of her.

"I never said I actually read it," Naruto replied, attempting to break the tension in the room. "I just never got rid of it. Even if it is smut-"

"-hey!" Jiraiya chimed in.

"It's still the last thing I ever got from my sensei," Naruto finished, ignoring Jiraiya's interruption.

Tsunade gazed into the sad, lonely eyes of the boy she considered a son before rolling her eyes and tossing the book back, crossing her arms and looking away.

Naruto regarded both Jiraiya and Kakashi with a wink and a sly smile as he stored the book away into his wrist, winning a triumphant grin from both men.

Hiruzen, who'd been keenly observant of Naruto all night, frowned slightly. To a keen observer, such as himself, it was clear that Naruto was struggling to outwardly show that he was fine, but the forced nature of his actions, coupled with his dull, distant eyes made it apparent that it was all a facade. Hiruzen was broken from his thoughts as Naruto spoke up.

"Now that we're all here, we need to talk about Ashina and Mito," Naruto said, adopting a serious tone that demanded everyone's undivided attention.

Kakashi, Rin, and Shizune all froze at attention at the sudden, almost familiar authority in the young man's voice. All the older shinobi in the room froze in surprise, all thinking the same thought, 'when did Naruto learn to speak like a Kage?' He didn't raise his voice, he didn't say anything out of the ordinary; he simply straightened his posture, and spoke. 'He seems so natural taking command.'

Naruto continued, not at the least fazed by everyone's change in posture, Itachi by his side adopting a similar posture. "I'm sure that by now you've all heard of the Akatsuki?"

Everyone nodded slowly, still stunned by the young blondes complete 180 from the immature, often goofy boy they'd all known, to this man in front of them.

"Of course, everyone knows that they govern nearly half the shinobi world." Naruto's eyes hardened. "What nearly nobody knows is their plans, both long term and short." everyone was hanging on each word by this point. "First, I need to apologize for waiting so long to tell you this, I had hoped we had more time." Naruto spoke slowly, "the akatsuki, as you may have expected, are not the peace driven organization everyone thinks it is. They've gained that reputation by stabilizing every war torn nation it currently has control over, but their plans for the future are not so peaceful. I am about to tell you, is why Itachi and I came back. And hopefully, by the time I finish you will all understand what needs to be done."

XXXXXXXXXX

(Mizu no Kuni, three years ago)

Itachi, Naruto, and Zabuza gazed down at the burning village. After nearly 10 months of running, recruiting, and killing it had all led to this. The destruction of Kiri.

It was fast. Too fast. At the very least they should have has to fight Utakata, the Jinjuriki of the Rokubi. But their rebuilt rebel army had swept through nearly unopposed.

"Naruto-sama!" a fair looking boy, often mistaken for a girl, cried. "We found her! Mei-sama! She's here! We found her in the dungeons!" Naruto's cold gaze met the younger shinobi, who did not flinch, only greeted the cold gaze with a warm smile. "I'm sorry, Naruto-sensei, I just got excited, I didn't mean to call you Sama."

Naruto gave the boy a warm, somewhat strained, smile in return. "It's okay, Haku." He replied. "Thank you for bringing this information to us."

Haku smiled brightly, eager to please his sensei, "right! Chojuro-kun and Suigetsu-kun are with her now, I'll lead you to her!"

"That's okay, Haku. We can find our own way. The three of us have some things to discuss." Naruto would have felt bad about shrugging his pupil off, but he didn't have enough left in his heart to muster feeling for something so trivial.

Haku nodded before leaping away to rendezvous with his teammates.

"I still can't believe you took a team," Zabuza growled once Haku was well out of earshot.

"They're good kids," Naruto grunted back, "and they wouldn't have lasted another month out there without us."

"Doesn't mean you has to take them under your wing." The one armed swordsman didn't dislike the three young shinobi, in fact he was quite fond of each of them, but he felt that their time was better spent slaughtering Kiri shinobi than training a group of genin.

Itachi stood stoic until this point, "this was too easy," he stated flatly. The other two nodded. "Where is Utakata? Where is the Mizukage? I don't believe that they would retreat of their own free will." His words carried a troubling thought behind them.

After a brief pause it was Naruto who spoke up. "We have to find whoever really drove them out."

"I have a bad feeling about whoever it is," Zabuza said.

"There's no way it was Orochimaru," Naruto thought aloud. "That arrogant bastard would never admit defeat so meekly."

"It still could be him pulling the strings. Maybe his plans no longer concern Kiri." Itachi offered.

"There's no way the snake would abandon the kekkei genkai goldmine here. Let alone the free reign he has for all his experiments." Zabuza said. Anyone else would have gagged, having the memories of Orochimaru's labs dredged up, but the three had seen it far too many times to be affected by the thought. Naruto was just glad his pupils were no longer held captive in one of them.

They paused once more, this time for nearly 20 full seconds before Itachi spoke up. "There's somebody else... someone far above them in the hierarchy."

"But what does he gain from abandoning Kiri?" Naruto asked, honestly hoping for an answer neither of the other two had. "We can talk more later. We should go see Mei-san. She's not doing well." Naruto sensed her distress the moment they entered the village, but he was in no hurry to face another ally whom he felt fully responsible for their suffering.

...

Zabuza entered the makeshift hospital room, converted from the familiar apartment building he'd spent his short time as a chunin and jounin in before he became a hunter nin. He walked slowly, followed by the Namikaze and Uchiha on either flank, all fully aware of the amount of damage a distressed Mei could cause.

When their eyes landed on the once beautiful woman they all noticed something different.

To Zabuza, the thing that stood out most was the scars of past, and the wounds of current brutal injuries. The woman's once flawless skin now looked as if it were torn to shreds, carelessly patched back together and ripped apart once more. Her once delicate, gentle hands were now crooked and bent, no fingers able to close all the way, and most barely able to bend enough to grasp a kunai. All that was left of her luscious auburn locks was a few stray strands, surrounded in an ocean of white, riddled with bald patches, clearly from brutal burns. Failing to protect her modesty, Zabuza also noticed her formerly ample breasts were completely gone, the scars reaching up to her exposed collarbone indicating they had been severed from her body.

Naruto instantly saw an unfamiliar sealing array tattooed over much of the exposed skin he could find. He recognized some of them, all with dark, inhumane, connotations. One such seal was designed to simply activate all her pain receptors the moment she felt positive emotion. How they managed to make that one affect her in a dismal place like this, he didn't want to know.

Itachi's attention was drawn to her complete and utter unresponsiveness. She was conscious, but she didn't seem to notice them. The Uchiha looked over to Naruto questioningly. How anyone recognized her was beyond him.

"She has a stasis seal on her forehead." Naruto said, responding to Itachi's non verbal question.

Zabuza rolled his eyes, he had long since gotten used to the two konoha jounin's unique brand of non verbal communication, but it still bugged him that he was often left out of the loop. That or by the feeling that he got when they did speak, a feeling that said they were only talking for his benefit.

Naruto walked forward, molding chakra into the air, inklessly creating chakra seals that took position over the stasis seal, as well as the other seals that he quickly devised a counterseal for. He didn't know what they all did, but he didn't need to know specifics to realize that they needed to be removed immediately.

With the counter seals in place Naruto let off a burst of wind chakra, severing the array, before increasing the power in each individual counterseal to remove them all at once. Breaking seals was much simpler than dismantling a complete array, but it took a considerable amount of precision, along with perfect timing to break the array and remove the seals before every seal activated as a fail safe mechanism.

The seals instantly faded and Mei's eyes came back into focus, briefly staring at Naruto's sad smile in shock before her eyes hardened.

Her disfigured hand shot straight up, catching Naruto's trachea with a crushing blow before she took a deep inhale, moulding chakra for a Yoton attack.

Itachi, sharingan active the moment he caught the hint of a sudden movement, saw the distinctive kekkei genkai chakra moulding. He shot forward and clutched the disfigured woman's skull, forcing her face towards his. Turquoise met crimson as Itachi subdued her with his own kekkei genkai, putting the former rebel leader to sleep.

Naruto gasped and choked for air through his crushed windpipe, but stood up straight, completely healed a moment later wearing a worried expression on his face.

"They tortured her with genjutsu images of her allies betraying her and reinforced those thoughts with henged jailors torturing her physically and..." Itachi trailed off. Not many things fazed them these days, but the memories he saw of Mei being brutally raped by lookalikes of people she trusted was enough for him to lose his composure. "THOSE FUCKING BASTARDS!" he roared, filling the full city block with the full measure of his killing intent. Chakra clearly radiated off of him forming a glowing ethereal red skeleton's outline around his body as his mangekyou sharingan spun wildly.

Naruto felt his friends rage, and although he hadn't seen the memory himself, seeing his best friend so agitated was enough to force him to unleash a fair amount of his own killing intent.

Zabuza nearly buckled under the suffocating pressure, but maintained his composure with as little as a grimace.

Itachi regained his calm facade, however he still growled with each breath. Zabuza didn't need to know what he saw, he simple placed a calming hand on his one time pupils shoulder.

Whatever it was that Itachi saw, Zabuza wanted no part in hearing about it. The mangled body of his long time friend and ally was enough to haunt him for years to come.

XXXXXXXXXX

(one month after the siege of Kiri)

Naruto was currently out training with his team, two of which were proving to be promising future kenjutsu masters, while the other was training to master his own kekkei genkai. Naruto was no expert on hyouton, but his mastery over his own kekkei genkai proved to be invaluable to his young student.

Naruto smiled at the three of them as they ran through their exercises. They reminded him of his own siblings in some way. Suigetsu was loud, and often perceived as rash and obnoxious, not unlike Mito was prone to act on occasion. Haku was bright and kind, eager to learn and loyal to a fault, without the borderline clinginess that Ume had, his personality was almost a spitting image of her own. Chojuro was quiet and introspective, but often came out of his shell to taunt Suigetsu.

Both the kenjutsu users had a similar relationship to the twins: constantly challenging one another and facetious to the point of it being borderline bullying. They made up for it with a fierce loyalty to one another not often seen in Mizu no Kuni in recent history.

To be honest, Naruto worried about them. Unlike his siblings back home, who were under the protection of his parents, as strained as his relationship might be with them he would be stupid to say they both weren't incredibly strong, Sarutobi, Rin, Obito, as well as two of the three Sannin, his three students were in an all out war zone with only himself, Itachi, and Zabuza to protect them. As formidable as the three leaders of the new rebellion were, they had lost nearly everyone they were even remotely close to. From what they've observed in the past month, they may have lost Mei as well.

Mei was currently undergoing psychological treatment from Itachi. Most would say that the three rebel leaders were among the least qualified to treat one's psyche, but with his tsukuyomi, Itachi was the only one capable of even attempting to treat her.

Itachi was uncomfortable with the idea of erasing her memories all together, he wasn't confident in his ability to only erase specific memories, and tampering with one's mind further than simple positive reinforcement was far beyond his comfort zone. Especially when the foul memories spanned over a year of the woman's life.

The treatment was slow going. After each session Mei was left utterly exhausted, having to rest for at least three days before they could try again. They had made some progress, in that Mei didn't instinctively attack them on sight anymore, however she was still warry in their presence. Her food had to be brought to her by someone she didn't recognize from before her imprisonment, mostly Haku, it was uncanny how calm Mei was around the fair faced boy. She would not sleep until she was far too exhausted to remain alert any longer, even with her extensive bodily trauma she wouldn't sleep until directly after a tsukuyomi treatment, or for at least two days of being awake.

Of everyone it was Zabuza who was taking it the hardest. He kept up his hard, cold exterior, but that didn't stop Naruto from sensing his inner turmoil. Although Mei wouldn't attack him on sight anymore that did not stop her from attempting to assassinate the one armed former hunter nin on several occasions. From what Itachi said, Zabuza was the subject of the vast majority of her torment.

Naruto sat on a wooden bench of his own making, brooding over the events of the past year, Samui's death still weighing heavily on his soul until he felt a presence.

Naruto's head snapped to his left. There was somebody coming. Somebody far more powerful than he'd ever felt before. The chakra signature was nearly 5 miles out, but heading at speeds that would bring it to the gate in less than 5 minutes.

Naruto activated a seal on his right palm, "Itachi, Zabuza, get to the gate now!" He spoke, not quite yelling, but with urgency clear in his command. There was no time to evacuate. Not with a force as large as the one they'd acquired. Naruto extended his sensory range, trying to block out the overwhelming power of the oncoming signature. His eyes glowed a bright gold, orange surrounding them, as he reached out for nearly 10 miles; at this range he couldn't sense anything distinctive, but he was only searching for signs of life from their scouting parties.

To his pleasant surprise they were all still alive, meaning one of two things: first, the overwhelming power was friendly, or second, they didn't consider the scouting parties worth the time or effort. Naruto was more inclined to believe the latter.

"You three, get everyone to the shelter as soon as possible!" He ordered. By shelter he meant dungeons. Kiri didn't have a shelter of its own, considering how well hidden in the mist, hence its name, that it was the village had never been attacked, so Zabuza recommended converting the dungeons into a makeshift fallout shelter. It was ironic how well protected Kiri kept its prisoners, considering they were only imprisoned to suffer.

Naruto didn't wait of a response as he shunshined away in a puff of smoke.

...

The other two appeared at the gates almost simultaneously with Naruto, both still holding up their palms, looking at the communication seal tattooed to their skin.

"What is it?" Itachi asked, worry evident in his voice.

"Someone's coming," Naruto responded, gritting his teeth in apprehension, "someone far stronger than anyone I've ever met."

XXX END CHAPTER 33 XXX

I know it's a short chapter. Sorry. I just couldn't help but leave it on a cliffhanger.

The next few chapters are going to continue on with the goings on in Kiri in the past. I was doing the whole jumping around the timeline thing, but that just made for some pretty boring intros, and as much as I like interactions between characters, as well as slowing down the pace a little bit, it's a lot harder to keep my thoughts straight each chapter than it seems. Plus I kind of wrote myself into a corner with the whole 'Naruto telling everyone everything' thing. Damn, I suck...

Anyways, enough excuses. Who could this super powerful being be? What do they want? Do our hero's stand a chance? What else could possibly go wrong?

Don't worry about anyone important dying for at least a few more chapters, we haven't gotten to like the characters enough for that yet.

Yes, Suigetsu knows that Naruto and Itachi killed his brother. I'll get to that.

: the 'creatures' as they're called are based on the demogorgon from stranger things. Just got my fix of season 2. And we might see them again, depending on how I decide to tie them in.

Updated chapter 33 and 32.


	34. Chapter 34: For the Greater Good

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 34: For the Greater Good

Before them stood a group of three. A spiky orange haired shinobi stood in the middle with a blue haired, amber eyed Kunoichi to his left, and a thin man with blood red hair that reminded Naruto of his mother's. The Orange haired man spoke, but Naruto did not listen. His focus was firmly fixated on the red head.

The power he felt was astounding. Its potency was beyond anything he once believed was possible. He could kill all three of them in an instant. But, sensing deeper, Naruto realized the man, with all his uncertainty, and unwavering devotion to the other two, was not fully aware of his potential.

Naruto dug deeper, feeling every ounce of his vast chakra reserves to learn whatever he needed to know. He sensed no bad intentions. In fact, what he felt was... Hope? ' _What could he be helpful for?'_ Naruto thought before fixating his senses on the source of the man's powers.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. He had yet to actually see his eyes, he kept them covered by long red hair and squinted eyes. It reminded him of what he felt from other doujutsu. Particularly the mangekyou sharingan. More specifically, Kakashi's Mangekyou sharingan. ' _It's not a sharingan though,'_ he thought, ' _but this obviously isn't his naturally...'_ Naruto's suspicions grew, ' _how did he get this power.'_

The orange haired shinobi stood before the three, looking at them expectantly. Naruto faintly realized he has ceased his speaking.

Itachi, realizing that Naruto hadn't listened to a single word, although he did not know why, spoke instead. "You want us to join you?"

The orange haired shinobi smiled amicably, "yes," he replied simply, yet warmly. "Please forgive my rudeness!" he stammered, "We forgot to introduce ourselves. I am Yahiko." He held out his hand to noone in particular, he couldn't tell which one was the leader among the three. It was clear that the blonde usually did most of the talking, considering how the other two only attempted to speak when they saw the blonde wouldn't. They all stood together as equals, however. Even though the blonde, presumably, usually did the speaking, it was obvious that they all shared equal pull among the group.

Nobody moved to shake his hand, so Yahiko shrugged and lowered it back to his side. "This is Konan," he motioned to the blue haired kunoichi who smiled at them. "And this is Nagato." The other male stood still, slightly uncomfortable with the attention.

Once again, Naruto's attention was firmly fixated on Nagato.

"What exactly will we be joining, and why do want us?" Naruto finally asked. Although his gaze was locked on Nagato, the question was directed at Yahiko.

Konan was shaken by the way the blonde, younger than half their age, but clearly powerful, was staring at her oldest friend. "Our organization is called the Akatsuki," she said, "our goal is to bring an end to the senseless violence that plagues this world by bringing peace to the war torn nations through mutual understanding. And we want you to join us because of what you've been able to accomplish here in Kiri, among the bloodiest civil war in recent history."

Zabuza narrowed his eyes at the bluenette. "I don't think our methods comply with your idea of peace," he said, clenching his lone hand.

"Just look at what you've done!" Yahiko inserted. "In this war you have united an army and defeated your enemies against all odds in almost a year."

"The war has been going on for nearly four years." Itachi narrowed his eyes, tensing slightly. "What exactly do you know?"

Yahiko merely smiled. It wasn't sinister or off putting, which made the group all the more on edge. "We aren't exactly a small organization, Uchiha Itachi."

"How do you know who he is?" Naruto's eyes shot towards the leader of their visiting envoy. "You gave us your names, but we didn't extend the same courtesy." His voice made it clear that the lack of policy was intentional. "Now tell us how you know what happened last year." Naruto's tone adopted a threatening tone.

Nagato took a step forward before Yahiko held up a placating hand. "Is there somewhere else we can talk? Somewhere where we won't be overheard."

Naruto grunted and motioned with a jerk of his head before stalking off towards the former Mizukage's office, Zabuza and Itachi close at his side.

XXXXXXXXXX

The two groups of three sat in the ransacked office, simply staring at each other in silence. The three Akatsuki were intrigued. They had not expected to have their meeting go quite so... strangely. Of course they expected some level of distrust, but their actions thus far bordered on flat out paranoia. And Naruto... he hadn't taken his eyes off Nagato for more than a handful of seconds since their arrival. Even while leading them to the office he glanced back at him every several seconds. Even when he wasn't looking they got the feeling he was completely aware of his every movement.

Nagato was uncomfortable with this level of scrutiny. He never liked being the center of attention. Even with his closest friends he always considered himself more of an observer, rather than a real contributor to conversation. He was happy with that, so long as his friends were happy and safe.

Yahiko was the most outgoing of the group, and as such was the center of most conversations, that is until Konan came out of her shell. But never Nagato. No. Nagato was a bystander. A silent protector. The guardian of those he held most dear.

Nagato was aware of the power his eyes held. Seldomly he would accomplish feats most would assume were impossible. But whenever his loved ones were in danger he was somehow able to call upon insurmountable power.

"You're and Uzumaki," Naruto said, breaking the long standing silence. "You don't have to answer. I can feel it. Your chakra feels a lot like my mothers. A lot like my own as well. I don't have to tell you my mother is an Uzumaki, I'm sure you've done your homework. Besides, Itachi and I aren't exactly no name jounin to begin with," the blonde teenager said to the older red head. He decided that the members of their group were probably only several years older than his parents. "If you are and Uzumaki from Uzushiogakure, then you've probably met my mother. She left Uzu when she was 6 and Uzu didn't fall until several years later."

Nagato flinched at the mention of Uzu's fall. That was the first time he had come to know pain.

"Yes, you're undoubtedly an Uzumaki... except for your eyes. Those are Uchiha eyes." If Itachi was surprised by Naruto's revelation at all he didn't show it. "Not the sharingan though... I've never encountered anything like them... but they are Uchiha eyes... and they aren't yours naturally."

Nagato's ears perked up at this last part, but otherwise his expression remained impassive. The origin of his Rinnegan had always eluded him, and to say he was curious was a gross understatement.

"The Uzumaki clan... a clan renowned for their fuinjutsu, respected for their kenjutsu, and envied for their vast reservoirs of powerful chakra. You know they're closely related to the Senju clan, a clan who has produced some of the most powerful shinobi in history, and even possessed the rarest and arguably the strongest kekkei genkai of all time: mokuton. Pair that with the Uchiha, the clan with visual prowess unmatched by anyone else. Feared for their taijutsu, fabled for their genjutsu, and legendary for their... more advanced abilities. Pair the two together and I'd say they'd be unstoppable." Naruto finished his monologue with a daring grin.

After several moments of heavy silence Nagato's lips cracked into a slight smile. "They almost were unstoppable," Nagato mused, "they just didn't get along as well as they should have. However, we are aware of the double entanda there. We know you possess the mokuton, and we are aware of Itachi-sans mangekyou sharingan. That's not why we're here though."

Naruto looked at the redhead questioningly, he wasn't patronizing them. He wasn't threatening them. He was just talking. Talking with the same humble, slightly reserved manner he has outside the gates. "Why are you here?" Naruto asked curtly.

"I believe Yahiko already told you why. We want you to join our organization."

"The Akatsuki?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," his clan mate replied.

"Forgive me, but that name doesn't sound like one that has the best intentions." Naruto replied in a tone that did little to ask for any sort of forgiveness.

Konan rolled her eyes, "it means dawn. Surely someone who seems to know everything like you would know at least that much."

Naruto's gaze shifted to fixate on the bright amber eyes of the blue haired woman. Konan was slightly shaken by the blue flames she saw burning within his cerulean orbs.

This was the first time Naruto actually studied the blue haired woman. She was stunning. She has flawless milky white skin, and the most peculiar set of eyes, aside from Nagato's of course. He could clearly make out the outline of her womanly curves beneath her heavy traveling cloak, thanks to the way it bunched up as she sat on the couch. Overall, she was a gorgeous woman, but aside from simply observing it, her beauty was the furthest thing from the blondes mind.

"It means 'dawn.'" Naruto stated, "Dawn as in the dawn of a new age, as in the dawn of a new world order. In my experience, those who try to establish a new world order are usually the enemies."

"Of course a shinobi from a major village, the Hokage's son no less, would think that." Konan spat back. "The major villages have fought their wars in the small nations separating them. They scorch the land so the people starve, they kill the shinobi who choose to stand and defend their homes and leave their children as orphans, and then they go back to their homes in the untouched hidden villages of the five great nations while the rest of the world is homeless!" Konan's eyes were filled with a hot fury that would burn through Naruto's very soul if they has the capability to.

' _Damn, I'm glad she's not Itachi,'_ Naruto thought, thinking of amaterasu.

"This 'new world order,' as you call it, is going to bring an end to all the senseless violence. We want to usher in an era of true peace and we're asking for your help!"

Naruto and Itachi shared a silent though, but Itachi was the one who finally voiced it.

"And what will happen to the 5 great nations when you achieve your goals?"

"They will no longer exist." Yahiko said. "There will no longer be a need for them. There will no longer be treaties between nations for someone to back out on. There will no longer be other nations to spy on, no more secrets to be stollen, no more missions to serve some lords political agenda. We're talking about an end to the shinobi world of death and despair as we know it. We're not naive enough to believe there will no longer be crime, or lone mavericks trying to destroy the things we hold dear, but the world will be one, and it will deal with those problems together. Just as Senju Hashirama, the founder of _your_ village intended."

Naruto and Itachi shared a look then both turned to their visitors and asked together, "how?"

XXXXXXXXXX  
 _ **(meanwhile, in Otogakure)**_

"Everything seems to be going according to plan," Orochimaru said, standing over his latest test subject.

"Yes," Fugaku said, standing in a shadowy corner of the already murky room. "I don't doubt that our recruiters will be able to sway my son and his friend to join our little organization, just as they have the others. We just have to be careful to keep our involvement in the Akatsuki a secret. Luckily the Konoha leadership has decided to make my true identity an S class secret," he said with a sinister grin."

"Yes, although it is too bad that we were unable to keep Suna under our thumb after my old friend killed their Kazekage," Orochimaru said with a hint of pride at Jiraiya's feat.

"A minor setback. Having a hidden village under our control would have been beneficial in the short term, but in the long run any great nation would pose a threat. It is best if we proceed with Suna the same way we did with Kiri, and attempted to do with Konoha." Fugaku said, leaning up against the cold stone wall behind him.

"Shisui should have been accounted for," Orochimaru said, almost as if scolding his lack of foresight. "Having his eyes in our collection would have been most favorable."

"Indeed... The coup d'etat did offer us a very good harvest of mangekyou sharingan to work with though. Who knew my clan mates killing each other off would prove so fruitful," Fugaku pushed himself off the wall and walked over to the operating table, opposite the snake Sannin. "These experiments of yours are unsightly. It's almost a shame to waste such beautiful eyes on them." Fugaku leaned forward to peer at the monstrosity strapped and sedated to the table.

"Unsightly they may be, but they will be able to utilize the mangekyou sharingan to a far greater extent than any shinobi would be able to with a mere implant. And it's all thanks to you, my precious kitten." Orochimaru said, walking to the wall nearest to them where a skeletal like bald woman was hanging, chained to an X shaped steel structure. Orochimaru cupped her face in his frigid white hand and tilted her head back to look into her eyes.

The woman snorted and spat a slimy green glob of mucus into her captors face. "Fuck. You."

Orochimaru smiled at the shell of a woman dangling from chains. A inhumanly long tongue slithered out from between his lips and licked the sickly substance from his face. "I see you still have some fight left in you," he chuckled, "I wonder if the Nibi feels the same." He reeled back his palm, coating it in purple chakra, before slamming it into her no longer toned abdomen.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Yugito screamed as she felt every ounce of Matatabi's anguish course through her body.

"It takes quite a bit to cause suffering to a Biju, kitten." Orochimaru said, retracting his palm from the circular red mark on Yugito's stomach, watching it turn redder from the broken blood vessels. "Unfortunately for you, you don't have near the pain tolerance of a Biju."

Yugito could faintly feel the brush of Matatabi writhing in pain, attempting to escape the seals meant to prevent contact between the two of them. ' _MATATABI! PLEASE STOP!'_ Yugito pleaded as much as she could between the throbs of anguish. The great feline complied with some reluctance. The sealing array was designed to not only prevent contact, but siphon Matatabi's chakra, and cause Yugito excruciating pain if the cat resisted. It had been a long time, Yugito couldn't even begin to calculate how long anymore, since the two had given up resistance. Curses and insults were all the Kunoichi had left to fight back with.

"Anyways," Orochimaru said, walking away from the panting jinjuriki, "the biju chakra I've infused inside my creations allow them to utilize the mangekyou sharingan to their fullest potential. Unfortunately, one eye seems to be the limit for each one."

"One eye is plenty," Fugaku said.

"Indeed. Now where should we test them?"

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(In Kiri)**_

"If what you're talking about is true, then it's one hell of a plan... And it just might be feasible," Zabuza said, his left foot rested on his other knee as he scratched his chin in thought.

"Forgive us if we don't jump to accept your proposal," Itachi said, leaning forward and twiddling his thumbs.

"Give us some time to think it over before we give you our final answer," Naruto said, now standing behind the chair he was previously seated in. His arms crossed and wearing an expression that showed deep thought.

"Take whatever time you need," Yahiko said pleasantly. "But I must warn you," his tone became hard and cold, "our plan will continue with or without you. I don't mean to say that if you're not with us you're against us, but if you try to get in our way... that would make us enemies."

All three rebels heads jerked to fixate on the orange haired man, cold gazes forcing Yahiko's breath to get caught in his throat. But he didn't falter. He met their cold gazes with one of his own.

"I hope for all of you sake that that day never comes," Naruto hissed. "In the meantime, you're welcome to stay here, I will build you a place to stay next to my own quarters. I'm sure you will find Kiri accommodating enough."

Yahiko nodded, taking the hint that any chance of further conversation was over. At least not a conversation that didn't hold the chance of devolving into violence.

The Akatsuki entourage got to their feet and left the office without another word, following a Naruto clone leading them to the place they would be staying.

Naruto waited until they left the building before making sure the silencing seal on his thigh was still active and turning to his comrades.

"I think we should do it," Itachi said, getting to his feet to pace around the room.

"I agree," Naruto said, sitting on the Mizukage desk. "But what does this mean for us as Konoha shinobi? We can't be loyal to our village _and_ be a part of the Akatsuki."

"You would have to become missing nin." Zabuza said, causing Itachi to stop in his tracks. "You would have to renounce all loyalty to Konoha to serve this 'greater good' that they speak of."

"But what if actually _is_ the greater good?" Itachi asked.

"That is besides the point. I'll remind you that you two are only here because of your Hokage's orders. You were ordered to come to Mizu no Kuni and assist the rebellion in the war until either victory or defeat. From where I stand, it looks like your mission is accomplished." Zabuza studied the two Konoha jounin for a reaction.

"W-well it's not over yet. Orochimaru and Kabuto are still out there. Also the Mizukage and his higher ups. They could be preparing for a counter attack at any moment." Naruto argued.

"That's true. This war is far from over," Itachi rationalized. "For now we're still the rebellion."

"So how long do you plan on staying here?" Zabuza asked. "Mizu no Kuni is one of those war torn nations they spoke of. This country is not going to find peace for years to come. Believe me, I don't want to continue this war without you two. Honestly, I don't want to continue this war at all, but this is my home and _I must keep fighting._ But why are you here?"

Both jounin stood speechless at the rather blunt question.

"Because this is our war too, Zabuza-san." Itachi said, speaking for both of them. "We won't pretend that we've lost as much as you have, but we have lost our share in the past year. We have to see this through. You and the rest of the rebels, and the innocents that have been caught up in this war deserve to see it to an end."

"Is this for the greater good, or is it to get your revenge?" Zabuza asked. His tone lacked the accusatory nature one would expect, it was simply a question.

They paused for another long moment. Revenge would be sweet, but it wasn't enough of a reason to stay.

"The greater good." Naruto said slowly. "This has to end. Not just here, but everywhere..."

"Then I think you have your answer." Zabuza said, standing up and placing a physical hand on Itachi's shoulder, and a phantom one on Naruto's.

Naruto's frown perked up into a wide toothy grin before he burst out laughing. "Zabuza-san... I'm sorry, but you only have one hand!" Itachi's frown spread into an amused smile of his own.

Zabuza rolled his eyes and shot Naruto a middle finger.

After Naruto's laughing fit subsided he and Itachi took out their hitai-ate and looked at them with a somber expression. Simultaneously they produced a kunai and held it above the metal plate, preparing themselves to slash a gouge through the symbol of their loyalty to their village and in one clean motion they slashed a deep cut through the leaf symbol.

XXX END CHAPTER 34 XXX

Oh shit, twist ending. Hope you guys like it. Not as action packed as most chapters, just setting the scene.

I didn't like how the previous two chapters turned out, chapter 32 in particular, so I went back and tweaked them. So if you haven't reread them since december 3rd I'd recommend going back and taking a look. I think they're much better now. I'll probably be going back and making some tweaks to other chapters, but nothing too drastic. Honestly this fic has veered pretty far from my original idea, but I like how it's turned out so far. Keeping continuity in check has been kind of a pain in the ass so in the case that I make any future fics I will definitely have to make some sort of chart to organize my thoughts.

As always, review and all that jazz. I appreciate all the support.


	35. Chapter 35: Rebuilding

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 35: Rebuilding

Naruto and Itachi stood there, staring down at their scarred hitai-ate, trying to make sense of what they've done. They renounced their village. They turned their back on everyone they knew. They couldn't go home now. Sure, Minato would probably give them new metal plates with the leaf insignia etched into it. He would be shocked that they would mar their headbands that way, but he would surely allow them to return. But how could they look any of their comrades in the eye after this? Naruto couldn't bear the thought of seeing the look in his surrogate families eyes. Jiji lived and breathed for Konoha, how would he handle it? Tsunade wasn't the biggest fan of the village herself, but she never turned her back on it. And Obito... all three of his students were now defectors. How could they betray the man who was like a father to the two of them?

Naruto's hands were shaking, white knuckles clenched around the cold curved metal plate. The white sash that held the plate in place, faintly stained with the blood of those he killed, along with the blood shed by those who fought so fiercely by his side. Naruto's thought inadvertently drifted to the ramen chef's daughter. He'd betrayed Ayame twice already, the first when he fell in love with Samui, the second when, up until now, he'd gone months without thinking of her. And now he betrayed her by betraying his village. Tears streamed down his smooth face, falling on the metal plate before the pools broke and slid to soak the white fabric.

' _How did it come to this?'_ Naruto thought. The past year had been hell. He wasn't the same kid he was when he arrived in Mizu no Kuni. Sure, his old self would slip out for a joke or two, but he was a fundamentally different man now.

Itachi dropped back, landing on his butt with a soft thud. All he ever wanted was to protect Konoha. He wanted to bring his clan and the village back together, but by becoming a missing nin he would drive that wedge deeper into the heart of their conflict. How would Sasuke react? ' _Will he hate me?'_ Itachi wondered. ' _Or even worse... will he try to join me?'_ Itachi leaned back, holding his weight up with his left hand planted on the floor behind him, staring at the gouge in the metal plate he held in his right.

He studied the cut intently. He noticed the jagged nick right before the tip of the leaf, indicating that he had hesitated. He traced along the path of the cut, following it as it cut through the leaf, chipping off some metal on the corners of the fabricated cuts that made up the leaf. He followed further and traced his finger over it as the cut became shallower towards the end.

"I'll give you two some space," Zabuza said, walking to the door. It was a difficult task for him to defect from Kiri, and his Kage was a homicidal maniac with a vendetta against kekkei genkai users. He couldn't imagine what it must be like for his two companions.

After Zabuza left Naruto and Itachi continued their silent contemplation late into the night. In Kiri's perpetual fog night came suddenly, but the two jounin barely seemed to register the transition into complete darkness.

It was fitting. Their surroundings matched the black holes they each felt in their hearts. All the pain and suffering they've experienced and witnessed could only be summed up as darkness. Everything leading up to this point.

Even though the Akatsuki was meant to represent a new day they felt like they would be perpetually trapped in the darkness of night. Had they just sold their souls?

"What do you think Yugito would do?" Itachi asked, breaking the long standing silence.

"I don't think she or Samui would have ever done that..." Naruto mumbled, his voice hoarse and raw. "I wish we could just go back... Those few months with them, even though it was in the middle of a war, between all those bloody battles and gruesome deaths... it was still the happiest I've ever been."

Itachi looked up to his blue eyed friend who still stared at the ground beneath his knees. It wasn't often that either of them opened up, but if there was ever a time for it it would be now. "Me too... I still can't believe they're gone... I always felt like the four of us would make it... I thought..." Itachi's voice broke for a moment before he regained his composure, "she was the one, Naruto... And now she's gone. Because we were stupid. How could we be his teammate for _5 years_ and never suspect him for what he was?"

"We were weak. We were stupid. And the people we loved paid for our mistakes." Sorrow was replaced by anger as Naruto's voice adopted a dark weight. "We will kill everyone, Itachi. Anyone who has anything to do with it will suffer. The people who broke Mei-san, the people who took Zabuza-san's arm, the swordsmen who took Yugito, fucking _Kabuto,_ and _everyone else._ They are all dead. Orochimaru is at the top of the list, and I'm not sure how far down that list goes, but we will make them all suffer. Fuck quick deaths."

Itachi didn't even flinch at Naruto's words. It was like they came directly from his own mouth. He felt the hate welling up in his own heart. "This isn't about the greater good. We will use Akatsuki to get our revenge. They can go about their peaceful mission however they want, but we're the executioners."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(the next day)**_

Naruto and Itachi held out their hitai-ate for the Akatsuki envoy's to see.

"We have stipulations," Naruto said, his face giving no indication of any trace of emotion. "We are here to kill our enemies. So long as our enemies are your enemies we are on the same side. We don't care about bringing peace to other nations, that is secondary to our goals. Our goal is to kill everyone who wishes to bring harm to those we care about, and moreso to those who have already harmed those we care about. We will follow orders until they conflict with our goals."

"The rebel forces are Zabuza's," Itachi continued. "They are not yours to command, and you will stay out of Mizu no Kuni. This country is ours." Yahiko nodded in response. "And we want in on your intelligence network. We are not lowly henchmen. We expect to be kept well informed, especially with information pertaining to Orochimaru, Kabuto , and the seven swordsmen of the mist."

"They are ours to kill." Naruto said with a murderous intent.

"Is that all?" Yahiko asked, face uncharacteristically blank.

"You stay out of Konoha." Naruto and Itachi said simultaneously.

"If you so much as lay foot in Hi no Kuni we are no longer allies, and we will do everything within our power to destroy the Akatsuki." Itachi said.

"And if we find out you have kept important information from us, or if you deceive us in anyway we will view it as a betrayal." Naruto added.

"Anything else?" Yahiko asked. He waited a full ten seconds before continuing, "very well," He reached into his pocket and fished out a pair of rings, one with a olive green stone imbued to it and the other with a dark crimson stone, and tossed them to the pair of Konoha nuke nin. "Welcome to the Akatsuki."

Konan walked up to the two of them, producing a pair of black trench coats with red clouds embossed on them seemingly out of nowhere and handed one to each of them. "Every organization needs to have a uniform," she explained, answering the questioning glare in their eyes.

"I am sorry to hear that you will not be joining us as well Zabuza-san, your experience would be a welcome addition to our ranks." Yahiko said.

"Someone has to stay around and rebuild," Zabuza grunted.

"Indeed. Naruto, Itachi, we will contact you for your first assignment in a few days. You are free to do as you please until that time."

The three Akatsuki members turned and made their way through the west gate of the village.

"I don't know about you two but I'm starving. What's a guy gotta do to get some ramen around here?" Naruto asked, face still blank.

"Lucky for you one of the refugees was a ramen chef before he was displaced and he just opened up a makeshift stand." Zabuza said.

"Makeshift? Now that just won't do," Naruto said, turning around and walking in the direction of the stand. Neither Zabuza or Itachi knew how Naruto instinctively knew where to go.

...

The three of them were joined by Naruto's team, led by a jovial Haku, as they sat at the shabby stand waiting for their food.

"So how do you like it?" Haku asked joyfully, "we found him among the refugees and helped him set up."

Naruto gifted his student with a kind smile. "It's great guys."

"That's a cool ring you have there," Suigetsu said, leaning forward to get a better look at the dark green stone on Naruto's index finger.

"You think so?" Naruto studied the ring for a moment. The kanji of leaf was written in black in the center of the stone. Itachi's ring had the kanji for fire in the center of the stone. Fitting.

"Well it's not really my style, but it looks good on you sensei." Suigetsu said baring his sharpened teeth in a feral smile.

"Here is your ramen," the kindly old man running the stand said, serving the three patrons.

Naruto refrained from rubbing his eyes. The man had a stark resemblance to Teuchi, and the blonde half expected for a pretty young brunette to walk out from the back carrying an armful of ingredients. "Thank you," they all said in unison.

"So sensei, when are we going to start training again?" Haku asked hopefully.

Naruto looked away from his bowl to the 9 year old looking up at him with sparkles in his eyes. Naruto remembered when his own eyes held that same shine, no longer though. "I'll meet you guys in the training fields when I finish eating." Naruto found it difficult to not see his own siblings in the three students.

"Which one?" they all asked together.

"Any of them," Naruto replied, helping himself to his noodles.

"How will you find us?" Suigetsu asked, receiving a deadpan look in return. "Oh yeah... nevermind."

"Dumb ass," Chojiro muttered.

"Hey! I heard that!" Suigetsu shouted.

"You were meant to." Chojiro replied with a challenging look in his eyes.

"Get out of here you bunch of brats," Zabuza grunted, receiving a smirk from both Itachi and Naruto.

The three snapped to attention, "Hai, Mizukage-sama!" They saluted before running off.

"Mizukage-sama?" Zabuza mumbled with a confused look. "When the hell did that happen? I never agreed to that."

"Like you said, Zabuza-san, someone has to rebuild this village," Itachi said smirking.

"Damn... I don't suppose either of you want to quit Akatsuki and take over?" He asked hopefully. In another life that may have been his aspiration, but now the weary one armed swordsman simply wanted to retire and take up a mind numbing hobby to grow fat and grey to.

"Like hell!" Naruto exclaimed, draining the remainder of his broth and starting on his second bowl. "I don't even want to be Hokage, let alone Mizukage. My job is to kill, you can't do that from behind a desk."

Zabuza sweat dropped, "You think I could turn it down?"

"Do you really want to?" Itachi asked. "Juzo is dead, Ao is dead, Mei-san is in no condition to lead, let alone leave her hospital bed, you're the only one left. It's for the greater good Zabuza-san."

"Urgh," Zabuza groaned.

"Worst case scenario you can serve for a decade and drop the responsibility on one of those three," Naruto pointed with his thumb in the direction of his three students. He could clearly sense their presence nearing the northern training grounds.

"That's a pretty optimistic worst case scenario, Naruto." Zabuza said, "I'd expect that kind of answer from the you from a year ago..."

"Medium case scenario then," Naruto remedied. "Either way, you don't have much choice in the matter. Just know that no matter what, you have the two of us to back you up."

Zabuza eyed the blonde to his left thoughtfully. Never in his life did he expect to be sharing a bowl of ramen with two Konoha jounin that grew to be his closest living friends, let alone discussing his ascension to the mantle of Mizukage with them. "Life sure has a funny way of working itself out doesn't it..."

Both Konoha shinobi slurped up a mouthful of noodles and looked at the one armed Kiri shinobi knowingly.

"Promise me that you two will live." Zabuza said.

Naruto felt the tug of his old playful personality and couldn't help but tease his scarred mentor. "You're not getting all mushy on us are you, Zabuza-san?"

"Shut up!" Zabuza snapped, managing to surprise both Naruto and Itachi. "You two may not realize it, but everyone else does. You both do things that should be impossible. You both hold incredible power, and on top of that you have an inexplicable ability to get people to follow you. People see something in you. People see you and they find hope, hope that they've long since given up on. You two have the potential to bring real change to this world. Don't throw it all away on a quest for vengeance."

"Don't give me the 'for the greater good bullshit' either," Zabuza said, cutting off the imminent argument. "Believe me, I know that it's sometimes necessary to delve into the darkness in order to find the light, but don't lose yourselves. You're more than killers. As much as that may seem to be the case you hold a deeper purpose than to be simple weapons."

Zabuza stood up from his stool, throwing a handful of crumpled bills and coins on the counter. "Just think about it," he said, "if I'm the Mizukage now then I have to get to work."

Naruto and Itachi sat, staring at each other over the now empty stool separating each other before the ramen chef spoke up.

"He underpaid." He said flatly.

Naruto groaned and dug out the necessary funds to cover their meal before sundering over to the north training field.

Itachi sat on his stool for a moment longer before deciding to go check on Mei. She may not try to kill him today... hopefully.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(one week later)**_

True to his word, the Godaime Mizukage, Momochi Zabuza, did get to work on rebuilding the village. He ordered the temporary evacuation of the village, having Itachi, along with the few other Katon users in their midst to burn it to ash. After blowing the ashes away with a powerful gale Naruto raised an entirely new village of dark mahogany Mokuton wood.

Every villager was astounded, if not plain shocked, at viewing Mokuton for the first time. Naruto did not care. The world could know of his mokuton, he wouldn't hide it any longer, there was no reason to, nor would he go out of his way to show it to the rest of the world. He adopted an apathetic attitude on the subject.

The raising of an entire shinobi drained Naruto's chakra reserves more than he has ever pushed it since his fight with Itachi in the chunin exams, even while using senjutsu chakra to amplify his reserves. He brushed the thought to the side, he would simply get stronger.

After the villagers got settled and Naruto's reserves were replenished, he ordered Naruto and Itachi to set up a protective sealing array around the village.

Itachi was no expert in fuinjutsu, but over the past year Naruto was able to instruct him up to about level 6 of the 10 levels. Naruto placed Itachi in charge of the sensory array that would surround the village to alert Zabuza in the case of intruders, while Naruto got to work on some more drastic measures.

One such measure, and the one Naruto was the most proud of, was a passive chakra drain seal that interacted with the sensory array, also working in conjunction with an intent field that warned the chakra drain seal of any uninvited guests wishing to do harm to the village. He also placed an paralysis array which could be activated to bind any specific chakra signature at the command of the Mizukage. Naruto showed Zabuza the necessary one handed seals to activate the paralysis array, also explaining that to activate the seal the mental command "for Kiri" must be uttered, preventing someone from simply copying the hand signs.

Naruto went the extra mile and developed a nature energy collection seal along with a containment and storage field, in case the collection seal was intentionally or accidentally disrupted, in order to power the protective seals. He applied a high level cloaking seal to hide the seals so that only the most powerful sensors would be able to identify them, and that was only if they knew exactly what they were looking for, as well as where to look. Not even the byakugan would be able to find the arrays critical points.

Zabuza quickly established the Kiri shinobi academy, assigning every chunin level shinobi, of which there were only about 20, as instructors to all children ages 6 to 12. There was no early graduation for prodigies, only higher level classes and a mentorship program with the existing jounin.

The jounin were all in charge of establishing and securing the trade routes for the merchants, and many civilians were drafted as farmers, and given land to the west of the village.

Zabuza did his best to keep taxes modest, there was little, if any, economy to speak of at the moment, so the village operated under a socialist regime for the time being. Socialism was much easier to accept when everyone came from having nothing.

The next order of business, and arguably the most pertinent was acquiring man power. The village was massively under maned, their shinobi forces added up to under 50, thankfully, more than a few of them possessed a kekkei genkai of some sort. Small scouting parties were sent out, unfortunately they consisted of the remaining gennin, to find refugees scattered across the country. It was not a favorable situation, but it needed to be done. The old Kiri regime still roamed the country, along with scattered Oto forces, therefore the genin were all given strict do not engage orders and were directed to return as soon as they felt they were in danger.

Suigetsu, Chojiro and Haku were all enraged at the fact that they were not allowed to be genin, especially considering their resume of B-rank missions with Naruto, but the age restriction placed on them was unwavering. Naruto was adamant about that. There was no need for children to be sent to war. Not while Kiri was under his protection.

Naruto and Itachi received their summons for their first mission as members of the Akatsuki exactly 7 days after Yahiko's teams departure.

"We don't know how long we will be gone," Naruto said to the Mizukage. "We will return as soon as possible, if you have need of us activate the communication seal on your palm and we will come back to assist as fast as we can."

Zabuza nodded, he knew he was not privy to the details of their mission, nor could he order them to stay. They were not his shinobi. They were there because they cared about the fate of the new Kirigakure no Sato. "Be careful." Was all he said to the two teenagers.

XXX END CHAPTER 35 XXX

Thanks for reading everyone. Just to address some reviews real quick, for those of you who stuck around after I killed Samui, thanks. I did not expect people to be so upset. I was pretty up front about Naruto not finding his final pairing early on in life. It wasn't lazy writing or anything, honestly it was a pretty difficult decision for me to make, I liked the pairing a lot too, but I like what I've come up with for his final pairing a lot better.

Also, I realized the time skips were confusing, I tried to do something cool, but I'm just not that good of a writer yet. I look back at earlier chapters and kind of groan to myself, but I've learned my lesson.

I have some ideas for future fics but I don't want to juggle a whole bunch of different stories, I really don't know how other authors do it, so I'll probably hold off on that.

I know it's been pretty uneventful lately, but I hope to bring us back to the current timeline (Naruto and Itachi back in Konoha) within the next 5-6 chapters. I know a lot of people have been saying this fic is really dark... oh just you wait...

As always, please review.


	36. Chapter 36: Tetsu no Kuni

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 36: Tetsu no kuni

Although it was nearing springtime, the winter still held strong in the frigid north. Tetsu no Kuni. The home of the samurai. They were summoned to the region to investigate disturbing reports of mass destruction throughout the country, and so far the reports have held true.

The village they walked through would have been the very definition of a ghost town if it weren't for a cluster of survivors. The remnants of the brutal slaughter still strewn around the area.

This was not the work of shinobi, nor was it samurai. For trained professionals it was far too sloppy. The snow carried a light pink heugh, the light snowfall covering up the heavy layer of frozen blood that soaked the layer beneath it. Bodies were strewn around in the most unlikely places: rooftops, gutters, through windows, and crammed into chimneys. Gore and entrails could be found dozens of yards away from the nearest gutted corpse, as if they were ripped out and thrown violently. Dismembered limbs were a common sight as well, many of them were torn to shreds, if not devoured entirely.

Not a single clean cut of a blade could be found anywhere among the wreckage, furthering their certainty that it was not the doing of shinobi or samurai.

"Do you think it could have been Orochimaru's cursed seal bastards?" Itachi asked.

"It's possible." Naruto said thoughtfully. The only thing they had gotten out of the survivors were incoherent stammers of 'monsters' or vague descriptions of the bloody massacre. To say the remaining villagers were in shock would be the ultimate understatement. They were civilians, never having seen a death before in their lives. To witness this would cause permanent mental and emotional trauma. The question was why did they survive?

The two wanted to stay and help, but the first person they moved to examine would only scream and plead for them to leave and simply leave her to die. When they refused the woman produced a broken bone from a dismembered arm and attempted to plunge the makeshift spear through her throat, but Naruto's reflexes were too quick. He snatched her wrist in an iron grip, keeping her from taking her own life. Upon seeing the pleading, terrified look in her glossed over eyes, he pried the bone out of her hands and released her wrist. The moment he let go however, her eyes rolled back and blood gushed out of her mouth.

It was the same with everyone else. Whenever Naruto or Itachi attempted to help the survivors they would quickly take their own life, and for whatever reason not even Itachi's genjutsu could prevent it. It was as if his ocular genjutsu was being blocked somehow.

All in all their their investigation provided very little insight into what had happened, so the two continued on their way to the next village, hoping to catch the perpetrators before they could wreak further havok.

They arrived at the next town in just under two hours, the land of iron was sparsely populated, with few lone homesteads in between each town. The scene was the same as it had been at their last stop, however this time they found no survivors.

The same pattern continued for the following three villages as well.

"Naruto," Itachi called out from the far edge of the town. "Tracks," he said, pointing at a cluster of footprints quickly being buried in the snow.

The two Konoha nuke nin darted in the direction of the trail. The tracks were fresh and Naruto could sense a faint chakra signature radiating from its source. The chakra was haggard and weary, undoubtedly they were injured. As they quickly gained ground, Naruto surmised that there were 6 of them, however only one possessed chakra reservoirs of any significance. Three of them were likely women, by the feel of their chakra, and the last two were children, neither could be any older than four.

Itachi and Naruto stopped abruptly several yards behind the retreating survivors to be met with a katana blade pointed between them.

"Stop! I won't allow you to harm these people!" a boy, maybe a year younger than them, shouted. The boy had long spiky auburn hair done in a ponytail and electric blue eyes.

"We do not wish you harm, samurai-san," Itachi said, taking in his light blue samurai armor and the way he held his sword in a traditional samurai fashion. "We simply want to ask some questions and ,if you'll allow us, help.

The helmless samurai did not waver, "what are shinobi doing here?" he growled.

"Exactly what you're doing," Naruto said. He was certain he could incapacitate the samurai in a matter of nanoseconds if he were to attack, but the blonde had no intention of fighting the boy. "We are here to stop whatever it is that's happening around here."

"Yeah? Prove it." the boy growled definitely.

Naruto sighed and unsealed his sword from his wrist. The young samurai cowered back a few steps before steeling himself once more. Naruto bent down to one knee, holding his blade in the flat of his palms. "I swear on my honor as a swordsman, I will not harm you or the others so long as I am not attacked first." Itachi inwardly shrugged and did the same.

The boy was somewhat placitated, but he still kept his sword grasped firmly in his hands. "Very well. We will answer your questions, but first we need to find shelter. The nights in Tetsu no Kuni are deadly cold."

"That won't be a problem." Naruto rose to his feet, clapping his hands together. A large two story house, complete with a stone fireplace, erupted from the ground 10 yards to his right. "This should suffice for the night," he said, sealing Odenta back into his wrist and walking towards the building. "There are 6 bedrooms. I'll furnish the place and we can speak when we're all settled in."

The survivors all stood gawking at how nonchalantly the blonde stranger erected the building before their very eyes. Itachi smirked, resealing Onimaru and caught up to his friend. "Show off," he muttered.

Naruto grinned, eyeing his best friend from the corner of his eye, "you call it showing off, I call it a display of power."

An hour later everyone was settled in their quarters, and all but the two children, who were cuddled up in a pile of warm blankets on top of a soft sleeping mat in the first room of the house, had gathered by the fireplace in the den.

Naruto was true to his word and has furnished the home. It wasn't anything fancy, he didn't have such good tastes, but it was comfortable and provided much needed shelter from the cold. He even created a makeshift laundry room and bathroom using a suiton seal to produce water upon activation, and a storage seal to act as a makeshift drain. Itachi even lent a hand by adding a weak heating array to warm the water being used. Neither considered themselves builders by any means, but they made one hell of a campsite. Luckily there was nearly endless space in their storage seals, or at least more space than they could ever fill in one lifetime, so they turned into what some may call hoarders.

The women all warmed up to Naruto and Itachi quickly enough, not in a physical sense, but they felt at ease in their presence. They learned that the two children were the the sons of Kotoru, a fair brunette in her late twenties, and the other two were Kori, Kotoru's sister-in-law, and the other was Suzuha, Kori's mother.

The young samurai had not yet taken his eyes off the two shinobi. The auburn haired samurai was named Kenshin, and was the youngest son of Suzuha.

"So you know who we are, what about you two?" Kotoru asked. She attempted to sound cheerful, as Naruto suspected she normally was, but the deep sorrow weighing her down cut through whatever mirth she could muster.

"I am Namikaze Naruto," Naruto said, keeping his voice even. Adding a cheerful tone would not have been a problem for him to fake, but he considered it rude to act as such, considering what they'd gone through over the past day.

"And I am Uchiha Itachi," Itachi said. ' _What makes them so different than the others? Every other survivor commited suicide the moment they saw us.'_

"Namikaze and Uchiha?" Kenshin scoffed. "What the hell are Konoha shinobi doing up here in Tetsu no Kuni?"

"Kenshin!" Suzuha scolded her youngest son, "that is no way to talk to people who have done so much to help us!"

"Done so much!? You didn't see the village, Kaa-chan! You didn't see those... those _things!_ They haven't done anything for us! All they've done is prolonged our death! Now instead of dying in the cold we are just going to sit here and wait for those creatures to hunt us down and kill us!"

"You say creatures, Kenshin," Itachi interjected before Suzuha could respond to his outburst. "Did you get a good look at them?"

Kenshin looked at the Uchiha questioningly, "yeah, so?"

"Do you mind describing what they looked like?" Itachi asked patiently.

The young samurai glared at him for a moment before surrendering and giving up the information in question. "Yeah. they were grey. They were a full foot taller than any man I've ever known. They had long skinny limbs with claws on their hands and feet..." he trailed off for a moment, feeling bile rise up to his throat. "Their faces... _opened..._ "

Naruto and Itachi's necks whipped to the side as the two locked eyes. ' _Orochimaru!'_ they said to each other were about to get to their feet and hunt them down that very moment unting Kenshin spoke up once more.

"I watched one open its face and... the last thing he yelled before..." Kenshin choked back the sob in his throat and willed away the tears welling up in his eyes. "He told me to run... save them and run... But then it looked at me after it... with that red eye... I couldn't move... it just walked towards me, like it was hunting me down," his voice turned from sorrowful to terrified. "It was inches from my face. I could see the weird pattern inside the red... then its mouth opened... there were thousands of teeth... I thought I was dead, but then tou-san attacked it from the side and..."

"You ran." Naruto finished for him. Kenshin looked down. It was clear that the boy hated himself for not staying and fighting with the rest of them. "You were very brave, Kenshin." The boy's tearful eyes shot up to meet Naruto's deep blue eyes. "We've been to five other villages so far, and yours is the only one with anyone left alive. You saved your mother, your sister, both your nephews, and your brothers life. Your brother and your father sacrificed themselves so you could save the people they cared about the most. You honor their memory."

The two Akatsuki shinobi rose to their feet. "Where are you going?" Kori asked.

"There are other villages that we might be able to save Kori-san," Itachi said to the auburn haired woman, locking his charcoal gaze with her electric blue eyes. She and Kenshin looked almost identical but for the shape of their faces. Kori had the same heart shaped face of her mother, while Kenshin had the same square jaw Itachi assumed his father had has.

"You can stay here as long as you want," Naruto said. "There is plenty of food and water in the storage scroll in the kitchen, and the fire wont go out for a few weeks at least," his mokuton wood burned incredibly slowly, "I've also set up an array of protective seals, so those monsters won't be able to hurt you. But if you want a new home, go to Kiri. You will be safe there. I'm leaving a wood clone here to escort you there if you choose to go." as he said that a wood clone of Naruto split off the body of the original.

"I want to go with you!" Kenshin shouted as the two neared the door.

Naruto opened the door, but turned around to give the boy a grin. "Your mission's not over yet, Kenshin.

Kenshin rushed over to the door to catch up to them, but as the porthole swung open all he saw was the heavy snowfall glowing white beneath the moon.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(two days later)**_

"Two days and 18 villages later and we're nowhere closer than we were when we started!" Shouted an exasperated Naruto as the blood stained snow crunched beneath his feet in yet another decimated village.

"This one looks fresher," said Itachi, scanning the area with his sharingan.

"So we're gaining on them," Naruto scoffed. "That's not fucking good enough! How long do you think it takes them to do this to a village? I'd say a half hour, at _the least!_ And that depends on the amount of resistance they meet!" They've been finding more and more samurai corpses within each village the deeper into tetsu no kuni they wandered into. "We're reacting. We need to start _acting!_ Screw following a trail of bodies! We have to anticipate where they're going to be and cut them off before they have a chance!"

"We have no idea where they're going though," Itachi said looking at a map that they'd marked the attack sites on. "There is no pattern," he said, searching the map with his sharingan. "The only thing I can say for certain is that they're getting closer to the capital."

"Then that's where we go." Naruto said.

"We're just going to leave the smaller villages to fend for themselves the?" Itachi said, narrowing his eyes in disbelief.

"At this rate there will be no country left!" Naruto exclaimed. "We have to save someone! If we keep chasing them like this they'll kill everyone without us getting a crack at them at all! We can go to the capital and warn them, then we can work our way out and try to head them off."

"Once we lose the trail there is no way we're going to be able to predict where they'll strike," Itachi argued.

"Then we'll evacuate the villages they haven't hit yet. We'll send them to Kiri."

"And if they don't go?" Itachi said.

"We'll make them."

"Fine, you get this one, but next time we go with my plan," Itachi relented. He knew he was gambling with lives, but Naruto had a point. They were being reactive. They needed to act proactively for once.

"Deal!" Said a relieved Naruto.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(the next day)**_

They arrived in the capital city of Tetsu no Kuni just after sunrise. They raced to the city at breakneck speeds, traveling through the night. Unfortunately the travel weary pair were not met with a warm welcome. The second the entered the city gates they were surrounded by twenty armored samurai, all holding their swords ready to attack.

"Awesome! They sent out a welcoming party!" Naruto exclaimed sarcastically.

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Take us to Mifune-sama." Itachi demanded.

"And what would two shinobi want with me?" Asked a grey haired man with a fu manchu mustache and a goatee. The samurai split to allow their general access to the two shinobi.

"Your country is under attack. You have to evacuate the city, and the remaining villages at once," Itachi said seriously.

Mifune studied the Uchiha for a long moment. "And what would be so powerful that an army of elite samurai can not handle them. We have thrown back superior shinobi forces in the past. I'm confident we can do it again." It wasn't a boast. Every shinobi invasion into Tetsu no Kuni in history had been quickly dispatched by the Samurai forces.

"That would be true, Mifune-sama." Itachi said respectfully. "But these are not shinobi. They are corrupted creatures of the like the world has never seen before."

Mifune looked at the Uchiha skeptically. Itachi reached over to his wrist, much to the displeasure of the surrounding samurai. Itachi held up his hands to signify he meant no harm. "We have proof. I just have to unseal it," Itachi said, waiting for permission to continue. Mifune nodded and Itachi produced a scroll from his wrist.

"Sealing a storage scroll within a storage seal seems redundant, Uchiha," Mifune stated.

Itachi ignored the fact that Mifune knew who he was. It wasn't important at the moment. He knelt down and unfurled the scroll. Channeling chakra into the seal painted to the center of the scroll there was a large puff of white smoke which quickly dissipated, revealing the corpse of the open faced creature they killed just over a year ago.

"We killed it last year," Naruto explained to Mifune who was hiding his surprise well enough. "It's one of Orochimaru's creations. And he's improved on it since then."

"Our intelligence says they possess an advanced sharingan now," Itachi growled. "Don't ask me how. I intend to find out myself."

"What is it?" Mifune asked?

"We have no idea." Naruto stated flatly. "All we know is that it's insanely fast, strong, and vicious. It travels in packs, and if I know Orochimaru, the packs are not small. We know that they're likely heading this way. We've passed 24 villages on the way here. All completely in ruin thanks to these things. Civilians and samurai alike have been slaughtered by these things, and we haven't come across a single one of these thing's bodies."

"How did you two manage to kill one?" Mifune asked, edging closer to the dead creature, venturing to prod at a limp face flap with the sheath of his katana.

"Like Naruto said, this is an older version," Itachi explained.

"And we're pretty damn strong," Naruto added.

"Very well. You have my attention. Follow me," Mifune spun on his heel and walked towards the center of the city, the army of samurai parting in his wake.

XXX END CHAPTER 36 XXX

Okay, one more actionless chapter. Sorry :/ next chapter there will be action for sure! I promise to make the wait well worth it!

Also, shout out to 'Light "Kira" Yagami', he's my day one homie, been reading from the start. Thanks for the support man! I appreciate you!

Please review.


	37. Chapter 37: Iron and Blood

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 37: Iron and blood

Mifune was convinced. The two Akatsuki looked at him with an astonished look, they hadn't expected the elderly general to agree so easily.

"What?" Mifune asked with an amused grin, "even if what you say isn't true, not taking preventative measures would be a grave mistake. Tetsu no Kuni has stood for centuries, apart from the shinobi world, because we take every possible threat seriously. We samurai do not grow overconfident in our long standing power the same way you shinobi do. That discipline is what sets the samurai apart."

Naruto and Itachi shrugged off the jab at their profession. He was right. Power did have a tendency to make shinobi complacent, at least some shinobi.

"According to your map they are moving sporadically, but they are working their way through less densely populated areas, moving on to the more heavily protected villages. That leads me to believe they are growing in power." Mifune surmised. General knowledge of the region that the Namikaze and the Uchiha were not privy to was his strategic leverage. "Perhaps they have the ability to drain chakra."

A light clicked in both of their heads. "When we were fighting them last time, when they hit us we felt our chakra being ripped away," Itachi said.

"You think they're enhancing their own reserves?" Naruto asked.

"It's a possibility," Mifune said hesitantly. "From what you've just told me it would be wise to go in under that assumption. That will also have to determine our battle strategy."

"Ninjutsu doesn't work on them either," Naruto said, "even coating a blade with chakra is useless. Their skin is chakra resistant."

"Good to know," Mifune stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Fortunately the samurai use very little ninjutsu, so enhancing our bodies with chakra should suffice."

"If they have the sharingan we should assume they are capable of using its ocular genjutsu to some extent," Itachi said. "Naruto and I will get to work on adding anti genjutsu seals to the samurai's protective eyewear."

"In the meantime, we need to evacuate the city, along with any untouched villages and make our way south to find refuge." Mifune got to his feet and paced behind his desk. It was a wonder to watch such a legendary strategists mind at work. "We can't afford to send large teams to evacuate the other villages, we will probably need all the manpower we can muster. We will also have to evacuate via the great plains, going through the mountains is treacherous enough, and it would create an optimal kill zone for these beasts to ambush us," Mifune thought out loud.

"We have to lure them away from the evacuation somehow," Naruto said. "If they devour chakra they probably have a thirst for it. I think that Orochimaru is somehow able to control them and sic them on weaker villages to slowly enhance their strength for their final assault on the could lead them straight into an ambush if we can produce enough chakra to tempt them into ignoring Orochimaru's orders."

"How much chakra do you think we'll need to pull that off?" Mifune asked.

"Just leave that to me, Mifune-sama," Naruto said with a smirk.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(two days later)**_

Ranging parties had located and tracked the army of, what the samurai now called, the faceless on the southwest side of the capital, just south of 'the three wolves' mountain range. They reported upwards of 500. The largest of which, now called the alpha's, were the ones possessing the sharingan.

Naruto and Itachi has been hard at work over the past two days, preparing the eyewear so that the samurai would not fall victim to the sharingan genjutsu.

Naruto was particularly busy over the past two days, laying out the distraction, and preparing the kill zone. He drew out a seal that collected and stored an insane amount of natural chakra. Around it he created a series of filters that altered the natural energy to imitate that of his own chakra signature, he wasn't sure if the faceless would be tempted by senjutsu chakra the same way they would be with human chakra. The filters decrease the potency and amount of the chakra that would be exerted in the burst by nearly two thirds, so Naruto was forced to alter the initial seal 8 times throughout the process to ensure it would be powerful enough.

Naruto also laid several traps around the capital. He didn't know the specific chakra signatures of the faceless so a sensory trigger was out of the question, but the samurai forces were all well aware of their locations along with the purpose and desired effect of each trap.

The traps ranged from simple ninja wire traps to area modifying traps that would turn the ground into water or quicksand or anything of that sort. He doubted he would be able to lay any seals that would cause a killing blow without sealing an offensive ninjutsu into it, but slowing the faceless down would suffice. The blonde also laid thousands of motion triggered explosive tags around the capital, just for good measure. He had gone far too long since being the mastermind behind a massive chain of explosions.

The samurai were all set up around the kill zone. One major downside of the distraction was that they couldn't afford to allow a single faceless to actually reach the chakra seal once it was released, otherwise it would absorb the chakra into its own reserves and they would have a catastrophe on their hands.

Naruto and Itachi stood as the last line of defense against that possibility.

It was almost time. The plan was to start the evacuation, and once the faceless made their move they would release the seal and hopefully cause them to make a beeline directly for the chakra burst. Mifune had an entire regiment on standby on the southern edge of the city in case the monsters didn't bite for the trap, hopefully to buy enough time for reinforcements to arrive.

Something felt off to Naruto, the last time they encountered the beasts he couldn't sense them due to the sensory deprivation seal in the atrium. But now he couldn't sense them at all, regardless of the lack of seal. The blonde closed his eyes briefly, opening them to reveal golden irises and an orange pigment surrounding his orbs. He still couldn't sense them directly, but he was able to make out the disturbance in the natural energy surrounding the faceless. ' _I guess that'll have to do for now,'_ Naruto thought, activating the collection seal and the balancing seal he has tattooed to his belly.

"You're going to have to teach me how to do that one of these days," Itachi muttered with a hint of jealousy.

"I'll try, but like I've told you before, I'm pretty sure it's just because of my mokuton that I don't need a summoning contract to utilize senjutsu," Naruto replied, inadvertently shutting down the intended breaking of the tension they both felt.

Itachi sighed and activated his three tomoe sharingan. "You ready?"

"Fuck yeah."

As if on cue, Mifune gave the order for the civilians to retreat, led by the greenhorns within the samurai ranks.

The faceless scattered. Some darting towards the retreating civilians, others making their way straight into the heart of the city, some moving north, while some simply stayed put.

"What the fuck..." Naruto mumbled, trying to make sense of the situation. "They were supposed to operate as a pack, not all run off and do their own thing!" Then it clicked. "Fuck me... scattering is part of their plan! They're not the same mindless creatures from a year ago Itachi!"

"Release the seal!" Itachi exclaimed, and Naruto complied.

Naruto felt the earth shattering explosion of the chakra burst and Itachi was forced to protect his eyes from the visible flash in the center of the city.

Naruto sensed each faceless halt in their tracks before a single one darted in an unpredictable fashion at speeds leaving barely a blur.

"Oh fuck me harder..." Naruto cursed as he sensed the lightning fast faceless set off each one of his traps one by one. The entire city shook once more as the explosive tags all went off almost in unison. "Well at least one is dead..." Naruto muttered. It had gotten trapped in one of the quicksand seals and was crushed by falling debris, but the remaining 500 plus faceless stood unharmed.

Seconds felt like hours until every single monster beelined towards the glowing chakra source at once. There was no single avenue of approach. They darted towards it in all different directions.

Naruto clapped his hands together and formed a dense wood dome 5 feet thick around the seal.

"You can't make it any thicker?" Itachi asked.

"If I tried it would lose density," Naruto said, cursing himself for not training his mokuton to a further degree. Lesson learned.

"We need more obstacles!" Itachi shouted, kicking the first pouncing beast across the face, or lack of.

"I can't!" Naruto shouted, driving Odenta straight through the open maw of a pouncing monster. "The Samurai fight best in the open, they'd be at a disadvantage if I summoned a forest!"

"They're at a disadvantage _now,_ Naruto!" Itachi saw a cluster of faceless digging deep gouges into the wood dome from the corner of his eye. The attacking faceless were nothing more than a distraction while the bulk of the creatures went directly for the chakra nexus. "We have to make the samurai fall back while we deal with this."

"That's basically giving up!" Naruto shouted, making quick work of three faceless charging towards him.

The enemy monsters would get back up and shrug off anything short of decapitation. Even a normal killing blow had little effect on them past briefly stunning them. All their fallen comrades rose to all fours, surrounding the Konoha nuke nin, and circling them slowly.

"It won't be a victory if they stay and die," Itachi's mangekyou sharingan spun in his eye sockets. "They'll have a home in Kiri. We need to give them the time to escape." Itachi spun Onimaru between his fingers before grasping it delicately in a reverse grip. "We can beat them together, but not if we have to watch everyone else's back while we fight."

Naruto gritted his teeth but agreed. The ancestral home of the samurai was lost. Even if they did win, which he was confident they would, the city would be nothing more than a magnificent forest with a floor of black ash.

The blonde reinforced his vocal cords with chakra to project his voice, "Samurai! Fall back and protect your people. Your home is lost for now, but as long as your people survive the samurai people will live on! Leave the unnatural experiments of the shinobi for the shinobi to deal with! Head to Kiri and live, so that one day you can return and rebuild what you have lost!"

Many of the samurai looked as if they were going to refuse the order, Naruto had no real authority over them really, until Mifune's voice boomed over the ambient sounds of death and destruction. "You heard the boy! Retreat and protect our people! Leave the rest to them!"

At this the samurai, hesitantly but obediently, retreated to the southeast to defend the rear and the western flank of the retreating party.

Naruto and Itachi leapt down from the rooftops, landing on either side of the protective dome, severing the heads of 6 faceless in the process, and proceed to bide their time.

It took only 5 minutes until all signs of _natural_ life has abandoned the city, leaving Naruto and Itachi alone and surrounded by nearly 500 enemies.

Naruto mouth contorted into a wide, almost feral, grin. "By my estimation the weakest one of these things is equivalent to a high level chunin," their observation of the faceless thus far has shown them that the creatures were now capable of higher level thinking, able to work on their own as well as coordinate seamlessly with each other. "Nothing says S-rank nuke nin like slaughtering 500 chunin to jounin level opponents."

Itachi held a grin mirroring Naruto's. "Now that it's just us, it's time to let loose."

In a single moment Naruto clapped his hands together and the faceless launched forward to begin their assault. Wordlessly trees erupted from the rubble, starting off as sharp spears, impaling no less than 50 faceless, before branching out, taking several dozen more out.

Thick vines blanketed the newly raised rainforest floor, tangling themselves around the ankles of the creatures careless enough to tread too close. The vines slithered up their bodies and attempted to strangle them. The vines coiled around their necks and began to tighten, intent on severing their heads. Other faceless dashed forward to claw their comrades free, only to be met by the sharpened blade of Onimaru to their throats.

Naruto silently marveled at Itachi's speed. His closest friend, even without the use of kage bushin, seemed to be in twenty places at once. Itachi's movements weren't even a blur. The only indication on his position was the after image he left when he briefly stopped to dismember a faceless head. Naruto could only track his movements through the use of his sensory jutsu.

The vines tightened until the heads of their trapped victims popped off with an audible squelch.

"One hundred down, four hundred to go," Naruto mumbled. Two seconds and 100 dead wasn't bad at all, but Naruto noticed how the alphas stood on the edge of the forest seemingly waiting and observing.

The next wave took to the canopy, moving at high speeds, untraceable without some sort of dojutsu or sensory jutsu.

Naruto summoned half a dozen wood clones, sending them out to counter attack the next wave.

Itachi landed at the original Naruto's side to protect the chakra seal. "How long until the chakra in that seal dissipates?" Itachi asked. They couldn't truly organize an all out assault on the faceless and leave the active chakra seal unguarded.

"My mokuton is trapping the leaking chakra inside," Naruto explained, "the seal will empty in 10 minutes, but the chakra will still be there."

"Every plan has a downside I guess," Itachi grumbled. "How far out are the refugees?"

"I can still sense them, but nothing we do will harm them." Naruto winced as he felt his clones be overwhelmed by every one of the non sharingan wielding faceless left. "My wood clones took out another hundred or so, but the rest of the foder are coming." He used fodder as the most accurate term for the ones without a sharingan, but they were still powerful in their own right.

Trees collapsed all around as the faceless army circled the pair of shinobi until the army shot out at the two at once. They would take fast, low hit rate attacks at the pair before leaping over them and dashing away to await their turn again. One after another, sometimes two or three at a time, would rush in to strike before turning away. The faceless were careful to protect their necks so Naruto and Itachi only took out one in every five.

They would leap over the shinobi in order to maintain forward momentum and not get in the way of the next attacker, or they would duck or dart left or right in order to draw attention away from an attack from above or from the flanks. The attacks were way too coordinated for them to have lost their hive mind entirely, but too well thought out for planning to not have gone into it. Were they somehow expecting to reach this kind of confrontation?

The faceless would also take quick, shallow shots at the dome as they passed by. Itachi would have attempted Amaterasu on one if he wasn't so weary of the affected creature darting directly at the dome and lighting the wood ablaze in black flames. Tsukuyomi was also out of the question due to them not having eyes.

Naruto followed one faceless retreating to his right, severing its hind legs, quickly spinning to punt away the attacker to his left. Two more followed, one attacking high while the other went low. Naruto reacted by swinging his sword from low to high, slicing through the heads of both creatures, deep down to the base of the skull. He tried to sever their heads in a killing blow to finish them off but was disrupted by an attack to his right which he shrugged off with a spinning elbow to the side of its head. That provided enough time for the injured creatures to retreat, but the blonde grimace as he felt some chakra ripped away from a claw to his ribs.

Three attacked at once as dark brown wooden tendrils shot out of the ground, snatching all three out of the air. The three were saved by another faceless who clawed through the mokuton like it was paper. Mokuton wood was reinforced with chakra, meaning that the chakra siphoning claws of the monsters were met with essentially nothing more than hardened wood. Luckily for the dome, that wood was extremely dense.

Itachi caught one by the throat and squeezed its head off with a chakra enhanced grip and punted the headless corpse at the following attacker. He backhanded another, cleaning his hands of the gore soaking it a moment ago then leapt in the air as a pair of claws jutted out of the ground. ' _Doton?'_ "Naruto! Please tell me that dome goes all the way around!"

"Of course it does!" Naruto shouted back, before stopping suddenly. "Itachi! Get to the edge of the forest NOW!"

Itachi quickly complied, fighting off an onslaught of attackers as he made his retreat. Naruto followed close behind. The faceless changed their attack plan in a split second and were now trying to cage the shinobi in.

Itachi didn't question the order. He knew when his friend gave an order to him it was because there was no time for a discussion.

Because of the new, less conservative attack from their enemy Naruto and Itachi were able to dispatch the majority of the fodder during their retreat, leaving just the alphas who had yet to engage them.

The earth all around them rumbled and Naruto and Itachi felt the massive accumulation of chakra within the dome vanished as quickly as it was released.

"Fuck... this is bad..." Naruto said through gritted teeth.

"Did you know they were burrowing underneath?" Itachi asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, I suspected they might, but since I can't sense them directly I didn't know they were actually doing it. I can only sense the disturbance they make in the natural energy around them with sage mode, but I couldn't sense anything they were doing underground." Naruto said.

"The seal releases senjutsu chakra filtered to feel like human chakra... is it possible that they won't be able to control it?" Itachi asked.

"It's possible," Naruto said, a thoughtful expression on his face. "I doubt it though. One of them siphoned some of my chakra," he gestured to the blood soaked fabric clinging to his ribs, "and it didn't petrify. These things are adaptable. Adaptable enough to use a sharingan without the same negative side effects that Kakashi has. Nothing they do will surprise me."

The earthquake intensified creating deep fissures through the deeply forested ruins of the city. The out of place trees all around were torn up from their roots as a powerful gale exploded from where the seal once laid.

Leaves, wood splinters, snow, rubble, and the dismembered corpses of fallen faceless shot out in all directions. Itachi's mangekyou sharingan spun and encased him and Naruto within the ethereal red samurai of his susanoo, shielding them from the debris.

"What is that thing?" Naruto asked, looking at the demonic looking figure towering over the bare field. The figure was over 100 feet tall, even with it's lower half embedded in the ground. It had the same grey skin of the faceless, and the same slits on its otherwise featurless face that the monstrosities possesed. Its maw was slightly lower on the front of the head when compared to the faceless, but the forehead was dotted with 50 mangekyou sharingan, all moving independently of one another.

The monster clawed its way out of the crevice it was buried it, revealing a pair of backwards legs with tusk sized claws sticking out of the front as well as the heel. The monster stood on four legs, the front two resembling arms. It turned its head to face the red glow of Itachi's susanoo, all eyes fixated on him, and let out a shrill howl which pierced through the clear night.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(With Mifune and the samurai refugees)**_

The night was oddly quiet, considering what was taking place behind them, that alone kept every member of their party on edge. It was only 20 minutes since he had ordered the retreat of the fighting samurai, and the citizens were making rather good time in their escape. They were about three miles out already and Mifune hoped to tack on another 10 before sunrise.

The earthquake nearly threw the civilians into a panic, but the samurai were able to keep them calm enough to curb their fear into a quickened pace. Then the sky started raining rubble. Fearful clamor erupted throughout their ranks, but once again they subdued any rash behavior.

Then there was the spine tingling cry that shattered the cold night air. For a full minute after there was complete, utter silence. That silence was broken by a loud crash, followed by a powerful shock wave. The refugees exploded into fits of panic as they all took off in a dead sprint, abandoning all supplies and trampling over the slower civilians, rushing south as fast as possible.

Mifune and his samurai tried to pacify the civilians, to no avail. Mass panic has taken over, and it was every man for themselves in the eyes of the refugees.

' _What is going on over there?"_ Mifune wondered.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(In Kirigakure)**_

Clone Naruto arrived with the family of six around sunset. He led the Tetsu no Kuni refugees to Zabuza and informed the Mizukage of the goings on in the land of Iron.

"So I can expect more refugees?" Zabuza asked, his face once again bandaged up to his nose, the way he liked before his capture.

"We can only hope so, Mizukage-sama," Clone Naruto said. He knew Zabuza wouldn't refuse. He needed workers, and an army of friendly samurai forces to bolster his military forces would be a welcome addition to his weakened village. Besides, there were plenty of homes to go around.

"Very well. I can't afford to send out guides, but I will inform my patrols to escort any northerners to the village if they come across any." He sat in his chair for a moment pondering something. ' _so , Orochimaru has set his sights on Tetsu no Kuni this time... what is that snakes plan this time?'_

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(with Naruto and Itachi)**_

"MOKUTON: MOKUJIN NO JUTSU! (Wood release: wood golem technique)" Naruto shouted. A 100 foot wooden golem sprouted from the ground, wearing a wooden dragon as a scarf.

Itachi focused his susanoo to shroud the great wood statue of legend, covering the golem in red ethereal armor. A red sword, along with a shield materialized in the towering statues hands.

The faceless king, as Naruto and Itachi wordlessly agreed to refer to it as, faced off against their combined power, apparently apprehensive to get a shot at it.

"I can definitely feel its chakra now," Naruto said, "and you're not going to like what it is..."

Itachi glanced over at Naruto questioningly as they stood side by side atop the golems head.

"Matatabi." Naruto explained in one word.

Itachi's eyes hardened in fury and the two of them charged the faceless king with their combined might.

The two monsters crashed against one another, releasing a massive shock wave that could be felt for miles.

The faceless king swiped at the golems midsection with a clawed hand, but the strike was deflected by a lowered shield. To the monsters apparent surprise, it was not able to rip the chakra away. This didn't go unnoticed by the former Konoha jounin.

The golem latched onto the faceless kings arm with its shield bearing hand, and brought the ethereal sword down to sever its arm. The massive beast let out a cry of pain as realization spread over Naruto and Itachi's faces. It couldn't siphon or deflect chakra in this form, probably due to its inability to control the massive amount of chakra it absorbed from the seal, coupled with the Nibi biju chakra.

The two Akatsuki grinned and brough the chakra sword back, severing the kings head.

"That was easy enough," Naruto grinned, until the beast once again stood before them, unscathed. "Fuck..."

"Izanagi..." Itachi grumbled. "And with 50 eyes..."

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

"Izanagi is a sharingan genjutsu technique that allows its user to alter events at the cost of their eye." Itachi explained. "Think of it as a redo button with a limited number of uses. This bastard has 50 lives..."

"That's broken as fuck," Naruto cursed. "So we have to kill this thing 50 times?"

"Yes. and to make it worse, it learns from each death. Now that it knows it's not chakra resistant, killing it will be even more difficult."

"What if we destroy the sharingan?" Naruto asked as the faceless king moved to pounce on the susanoo clad golem.

"We have to destroy each eye simultaneously, otherwise it will use a single eye to reset the rest." Itachi said.

The faceless king latched onto the golems sword arm with its star shaped maw, holding its arm out to block a shield bash. Naruto clapped his hands together and the wood dragon the golem wore as a scarf launched itself at the creatures neck, severing its head with a vicious chomp.

Once again the massive beast stood in the center of the clearing, 48 red eyes and two cloudy white ones.

"It's testing us for weaknesses," Naruto observed, receiving a nod from the Uchiha. The Namikaze prodigy let loose a barrage of shuriken and kunai which met their mark in 47 sharingan. The faceless king only protected one before the weaponry vanished, leaving 47 sharingan and 3 cloudy white eyes. "Now it's taunting us," Naruto grunted.

"It's overconfident," Itachi said, "it just sacrificed one of its lives, and I'm sure it will sacrifice others to inflict damage on us since we can't undo it the same way it can."

"And we'll use that to our advantage," Naruto said with a twisted smile.

"We just have to fight defensively and try to outlast it," Itachi said. "This jutsu we're using to match it uses a shit ton of chakra, we can't afford to waste any."

Naruto grunted in affirmation. Even though he was using senjutsu at the moment, reducing his own chakra cost, the more chakra he used the more imbalanced the ratio of nature energy and his own chakra became. Even he couldn't keep this up forever. "Nothing flashy, got it." Naruto relented.

...

The sun rose from behind the mountains, illuminating the cloudless sky. Snow was only visible in the distance, reducing the strain the sun would have had on their eyes. The fight was still going on. It was incredibly boring and uneventful up to this point. The faceless king would attack and they would counter, taking one of its lives. It has been this way for the past 6 hours. And the time was wearing on the two Akatsuki.

Blood soaked Itachi's face, originating from his eyes. His vision was hazy and his sharingan periodically flickered on and off. His body ached from exertion, but he was determined to see this through to the end.

Naruto fared slightly better. The constant use of senjutsu was eating away at him. The collection seal on his belly burned white hot from overuse, and he was ready to pass out from sheer exhaustion.

The golem appeared dry and cracked, the way driftwood appeared, no longer its rich dark brown but more of a salted looking khaki. The susanoo armor was nothing more than a faint outline of a skeleton, having abandoned the sword and shield all together.

There were still two eyes left in the faceless kings skull. The monster was significantly smaller than it had been, now standing at around 30 feet, due to the chakra it had to use to match the golem susanoo combination.

Naruto collapsed to his hands and knees as he was forced to release his sage mode. His eyes faded from gold to blue as he panted from atop the golems head.

Itachi's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he collapsed straight on his back from exhaustion.

Susanoo faded entirely and the golem crumbled away sending the pair falling to the ground 100 feet below. Naruto mustered up whatever energy he had left to catch Itachi and land safely below.

"I probably only have as much chakra left as an average genin..." Naruto grumbled. "Damn it sucks to feel so weak." As slow and boring as the battle has been using the golem was necessary to match the faceless kings raw power. It only sucked that he has to use so much chakra to sustain it.

Naruto stood tall, despite his weakened state, "okay... three more times... two eyes and the last life... then I can go to sleep for the next year." Naruto unsealed Odenta from his wrist, holding it out to his side a gust of wind blew across the barren battlefield. It was astounding that not 8 hours earlier this barren wasteland was a thriving city.

"I don't know how you got those sharingan, but I know where that Biju chakra came from. Orochimaru... You better hope I die here, cus I'm coming for you next."

Naruto dashed forward. His movements were slow and clumsy, and he was sure the sharingan eyes would be able to track and respond to him easily, but he had unpredictability on his side.

The monster raised his hand to squash the blonde like a bug, and at the last moment, as soon as he was out of sight, launched a kunai with an explosive tag at the open palm and kawarimied with a piece of rubble beneath the creatures belly. The explosion went off, taking the palm of the beast with it and Naruto leapt up to the creatures exposed belly and ran upside down to its neck.

The faceless king swatted at Naruto with its remaining hand, but lost its balance due to its weight distribution and crashed to the ground face first. Naruto leapt to the side, as not to get crushed beneath its massive frame, and went straight for the neck, cleaving clean through with a wind coated blade.

Once again he stood facing off against the one eyed monster. Naruto panted in exertion, coated in sweat despite the freezing temperatures.

The lone eye zeroed in on the blonde, apparently aware that it was on its last life, and charged at him. Naruto rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding being bulldozed over, but was kicked 30 yards away by the beasts hind legs.

Naruto clambered to his feet, moaning in pain. His healing ability was slowed significantly due to his lack of chakra. He looked over at the beast and noticed it was stalking up to Itachi's unconscious body. Naruto focused all his remaining chakra into his legs and dashed forward as quickly as possible. He was carelessly swatted away by the monster as it continued its approach on the Uchiha.

Naruto smirked as the same right hand exploded once more. The faceless king, seemingly enraged, darted towards Naruto, maw open wide to devour the blonde. Naruto watched it's approach, unable to move quickly enough to escape.

The rows of fangs dug into Naruto's flesh, pulling him into the esophagus of the giant monster who swallowed him in one piece. Naruto plunged Odenta through the lining of the esophagus and sliced all around him. Just short of the complete spin Odenta got caught on the spine. With no momentum to hack through it the blade stopped in place. Naruto activated the chakra storage seal within the blade, along with the wind seal and sliced through the spine like butter.

The blonde fell from the open throat of the beast, landing with a resounding thud on the hard ground below. Naruto's eyes fluttered open to see the beast prowling towards him for the killing blow.

The last thing the Namikaze prodigy saw before his world faded to a black dreamless sleep was the monster to be engulfed in a cloak of black flames.

XXX END CHAPTER 37 XXX

So there it is. I'll explain a lot of things in the next chapter, so be patient. Naruto and Itachi will go after Orochimaru soon and make their way back to konoha. They still have damn near 3 years until their return so expect them to get WAY stronger.

I'm going on vacation for the next 2 weeks so I probably won't update while I'm gone. Going home to see snow for the first time in 3 years, exciting stuff! So everyone enjoy your christmas, hanukkah, new years, and whatever else you celebrate. See y'all in 2018.


	38. Chapter 38: Gone Hunting

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 38: Gone Hunting

Cerulean eyes fluttered open only to be met with pitch darkness. Naruto slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes to help them adjust to the dark.

' _Where am I?'_ He thought. ' _Why is it so cold?'_ Naruto's eyes adjusted to pick up a faint white glow originating from behind him. It wasn't much, but it allowed him to get his bearings. The blonde nuke nin found himself laying on top of a natural stone platform raised from the snow dusted floor. He swung his feet off the side of the platform to stand, his bare feet met with a frosty crunch and a bite from the cold floor beneath him.

"Itachi?" Naruto asked, alternating between squinted and wide eyes to try and get a better view of what he decided was a cave. There was no answer but Naruto could sense his presence nearby.

Naruto rose to his feet, not even taking a moment to steady himself on his pair of wobbly legs, and started walking in the direction of Itachi's faint chakra signature. It was freezing cold, if not for his natural physical resilience he surely would have died of hypothermia over the course of his unconsciousness.

Naruto stumbled through the dark, making his way towards the entrance of the cave, quickening his pace as he neared the outline of a black and red cloak huddled hear the entrance. "Itachi?" Naruto asked once more.

Itachi slowly turned his head away from the scenic view of the sunrise over the snow capped mountains. "Good, you're up. Get dressed. We're going hunting."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(in Kiri)**_

Zabuza sat behind his desk with an unreadable expression on his bandaged face. Although Mifune was a seasoned veteran in his own right, having seen scarred and crippled men as well as those maimed beyond recognition, felt uneasy looking upon the heavily scarred form of Zabuza. The fact that the man had survived the injuries that left him so disfigured, let alone rose to the position of Mizukage afterwards, was a testament to his resilience and power. Mifune respected that.

"I see." Zabuza said in an even voice, not betraying anything. Mifune himself has reported the events leading him and his northern people to Kiri. The trek south, once they left the frigid wasteland of Tetsu no Kuni, was fairly simple. They were lucky enough to be found by a patrol of Kiri ANBU not long after entering the country, and were led directly to Kiri after requesting audience with the Mizukage. "And you no nothing of Naruto and Itachi's current condition?" Zabuza questioned. In truth he had no authority or political ties to the two any longer, but his long standing friendship with the Konoha nuke nin was cause enough for him to worry.

"No Mizukage-sama," Mifune said, careful to address his host in as respectful a fashion as possible. "My first priority was the safety of my people and we could not afford to spare any forces to assist in the battle that was admittedly far beyond our ability to help."

"I understand," Zabuza sighed, "please don't take that line of questioning as an insult, I am merely curious about the condition of my former students. And please, -san will suffice, there is no need for you to feign subordinance to me General."

Mifune raised an eyebrow at the revelation that the two shinobi who had saved his people from certain annihilation were once the students of the man seated before him. "Very Mizukage-san. As I'm sure you've gathered by now, I am here to request temporary shelter for my people. Orochimaru is conducting operations in our land, and I'm sure the faceless are not the only forces he has at his disposal. Until my samurai and I are able to retake Tetsu no Kuni from the snake I wish for you to allow our civilians shelter within your village."

"That will not be a problem, Mifune-san," Zabuza said, waving his lone hand casually. "However, if you're people are to stay here as refugees they will be required to take up employment within the village. We ourselves are currently recovering from a brutal war of our own, and could use whatever manpower we can get our hands on." Zabuza's tone hardened slightly, stealing his eyes accordingly, "I will also require 100 samurai to bolster our military forces. I will allow you to appoint a civilian and a military representative to sit on the Kiri counsel to speak on behalf of you people, but I will require the 100 samurai to swear loyalty to Kiri until Tetsu no Kuni is once again inhabitable."

Mifune let out a sigh of relief. These terms were beyond reasonable, he has expected much worse going in. 100 samurai was a steep toll to pay, seeing as how that entailed about a quarter of the surviving warriors, but he was willing to pay that price for the safety of the northern people.

"Also, I want the secrets to the samurai steel to be taught to our blacksmiths." Zabuza added.

"What? Zabuza-san, you must realize what you are asking. Samurai steel is our ancestral secret. Throughout the ages it's been as closely guarded as any great kekkei genkai or the Uzumaki fuinjutsu!" Mifune argued. Over the centuries since its creation countless wars have been fought over the secrets of the famed steel, many have tried to recreate it, and even more attempted to reverse engineer the process, all having had failed.

"A small price to pay for the housing of you people," Zabuza said off handedly.

Mifune grit his teeth. He was right, the safety of his nation was vastly more important to him than the secret of the legendary metal, but to give it up so easily was an insult to his ancestors. "There must be some alternative," Mifune said.

"I'm listening..."

"As I'm sure you know, as a former member of the seven swordsmen, the legendary blades wielded by the seven swordsmen of the mist were forged from this steel." Zabuza nodded upon hearing this, "so you must also know that the unrefined iron comes from a specific iron deposit in the far northern reaches of Tetsu no Kuni," Zabuza nodded once more. "Therefore the knowledge of _how_ to forge one such blade will be wasted on a Kiri blacksmith."

"I fail to grasp what it is you're getting at," Zabuza proaded.

"Instead of divulging the secret behind the forging of these blades, what if, as compensation for your hospitality, the samurai I lead north bring back the raw material required to forge the weapons and forge a blade for you. A blade fit for the Mizukage." Mifune held his breath waiting for a response. The secret itself would in fact be useless to Kiri, but if Zabuza persisted Mifune would have no choice but to relent.

"... Three swords." Zabuza said. "Bring back the material to forge three swords. One fit for the Mizukage, and two fit for the guardians of this world."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(Ta no Kuni)**_

" _ **Madara-sama, we have returned from Tetsu no Kuni,"**_ the black half of a venus fly trap shaped creature said in a dark gravelly voice. " _ **Akatsuki's two newest members have defeated Orochimaru-kun's creations."**_ "It was a pretty boring battle. Except for the beginning and the end parts," the white half chimed in.

"And what of their abilities?" Fugaku asked from behind his mask.

" _ **The Uchiha has the mangekyou sharingan. With it he can use the black flames of Amaterasu, as well as an incomplete Susanoo."**_ The black half reported. " _ **The other one can use Mokuton and has impressive prowess in fuinjutsu. He also appears to have mastered senjutsu without the use of a summon. They're almost like the reincarnation of Hashirama and the**_ **real** _ **Madara-sama."**_

"I see. They are far stronger than I had anticipated," Fugaku said, "especially the Namikaze."

"Madara-sama," the white half interjected, disturbing Fugaku from his thoughts, "what is the point of pitting them against Orochimaru?"

"The snake has long since outlived his usefulness, and as much as I hate to admit it, I have allowed him to become far too powerful for me to control for much longer." Fugaku clenched his fist in frustration at his shortsightedness. "Besides, the longer I keep Itachi on his path of to darkness, the more easily I will be able to able to sway him to join me." Fugaku drummed his fingers on his forearm for a moment. ' _I only wish he had awoken his mangekyou sharingan later. I have no idea how long he's had it or how well his eyes are doing at this point.'_

" _ **How long until we begin the sealing? We have the Nibi, Sanbi, and the Rokubi already. There is no need to delay the sealing any longer."**_ The black half growled impatiently.

"Patience Zatsu. All will come together in time. We just need the break Nagato first. When he knows pain, then he will be our puppet," Fugaku said with a sinister grin hidden behind his mask.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(elsewhere in Ta no Kuni)**_

"Anything?" Itachi asked from behind Naruto.

"When I have something you'll be the first to know," Naruto gripped. "Seriously, I know you're eager to rescue Yugito, but constantly pestering me isn't going to help us find her any faster." They has been wandering through Ta no Kuni for 3 days now and the Itachi equivalent of 'are we there yet' was beginning to grind on Naruto's last nerve.

Itachi's lips curled in a brief amused grin, he knew he was acting the same way Naruto normally did and it was funny to see how his blonde companion reacted to his own quirks. "Just asking."

Naruto was about to initiate a bout of witty banter before he stopped suddenly. ' _17, 18, 19... 25 of them? Damn... well I guess they know who they're dealing with.'_ Naruto glanced over at Itachi, letting him know to be on guard. They were being watched.

"Come out and face us, cowards." Itachi challenged.

"Now is that any way to treat your old friend, Itachi-kun?" said a haughty voice that echoed all around.

"That trick is useless Kabuto," Naruto growled. "You know I know where you are."

"Yes, but can you get to me, Naruto-kun?" Kabuto taunted in a patronizing tone. "And even if you do, what are you going to do to me?"

"You know damn well what I'm going to do to you, you fucking snake!" Naruto roared before quickly getting a hold of his emotions. He knew damn well not to underestimate his white haired former teammate, and letting his emotions get the best of him was not the way to go about fighting him. He has to be calm, cool, and collected.

"Please, Naruto-kun. I know we've had our differences in the past, but can't we talk like civilized people." Kabuto mocked.

"You killed Samui-chan!" Naruto said, radiating killing intent that he could sense was paralyzing over a dozen of the surrounding enemies. "You're responsible for what happened to the rebellion. Ao-san and Juzo-san are dead because of you! Mei-san will never be the same because of you! Now get the fuck out here so I can tear your ass apart the way you wish Orochimaru would you _fucking_ BASTARD!"

Naruto's surroundings exploded in a visible aura of chakra as the blonde darted through the trees creating a shockwave in his midst that brought the towering pines crashing down. Several Oto shinobi with their second stage curse seal activated leapt in to attack the enraged Akatsuki only to be sliced into ribbons by a wind coated Odenta. Blood splattered into the eyes of another two incoming Oto shinobi, causing them to flinch and receive fiery shuriken to the body. The super heated metal seared clean through their grey skin, allowing the spinning metal stars to bury themselves inside their body and tear their innards to shreds.

"Naruto! Calm down! We can't fight him like this!" Itachi shouted after performing his clan jutsu.

Naruto knew this as well. He was acting impulsively. His rage was getting the best of him. This was the exact thing that got so many killed up to this point. But he didn't care. All he wanted was Kabuto's head mounted on a wooden stake of his own creation.

"Naruto! STOP!" Itachi commanded.

' _FUCK!'_ Naruto shouted within his own mind. ' _He's right. Calm down Naruto. You'll kill him. You don't have to rush into it.'_ Naruto came to a halt with Itachi close behind. The blond allowed his aura to recede as he drew back his killing intent, releasing the frozen Oto shinobi from their paralysis.

"What is he?" Naruto heard one of them ask. "Their the ones who killed all of Orochimaru-sama creations," another one responded. "They also killed Kimimaro-sempai," another voice added. "They've also been hunting down all our comrades in Mizu no kuni."

"I guess we've been quite the thorn in their side," Itachi quipped.

"We're close," Naruto said. "They're not here to kill us. They're a distraction. We must be getting close and Orochimaru sent them out here to keep us occupied while he escapes with Yugito."

Itachi's eyes hardened and his charcoal irises turned blood red and spun revealing a pair of fully matured sharingan. "Then we should finish this quickly."

"Ha! You think we can't kill a couple of shithead pussies like you?" Said a red haired girl with a flute walking out from behind a tree.

"Language Tayuya," said a tall burly man to her left.

"Fuck off Fatso!" The girl known as Tayuya shouted.

"Oh, you two look strong. I'm going to enjoy killing you," Said a six armed teenager.

"As long as we can make them suffer," said a white haired teen with two heads.

"Get out of our way. We will kill you eventually, but for now our fight is not with you," Itachi warned dangerously. "Crawl back in the hole you climbed out of and we'll let you live for now.

"Yeah right you emo looking fuck! You don't know who we are, do you?" Shouted the red haired girl in the hat.

"We are the sound four," the white haired shinobi proclaimed. "We are Orochimaru's most elite warriors. You wont get past us so easily."

In one fell swoop both heads of the white haired teenager tumbled to the ground with Naruto standing behind him with his blade drawn.

Six kunai came flying forward, burying themselves in each of the six armed teenagers hands with a seventh digging into his throat.

Naruto spun around with his foot aimed at the back of Tayuya's head, only for it to be blocked by the brawly arm of the largest member of their group. Naruto retracted his leg quickly before he could grab hold and drilled a rasengan into the man's chest, exploding his ribcage outward and sending blood and gore flying everywhere.

Tayuya stood wide eyed in shock. ' _They just killed all three of them in less than a second. That's impossible!'_

"It's not impossible." Itachi said, his face mere inches in front of hers. "They were weak. And you're the weakest of the four. Especially considering you're a genjutsu specialist. Now tell me. Where is Orochimaru?"

' _W-what? What's happening? Where am I?'_ Tayuya thought, looking around at the blood red sky and the barren wasteland around her.

"You're in my genjutsu," Itachi explained. "Don't try to escape. You're here until I get what I want."

"Fuck you!" Tayuya shouted, releasing her curse seal only to be met with an agonizing wave of pain.

"Please, we've has more than enough experience dealing with Orochimaru's curse seal for that to work," Itachi taunted. "Now tell me. Where is he?"

"I'm not saying shit! Do you have any idea what he'll do to me if he finds out I told you anything?!" She pleaded, realizing the hopelessness of her situation.

"It can't be any worse than what I'll do to you if you don't tell me." Itachi said in a voice so bored it was menacing.

' _How is he doing this? He didn't even try to mask the genjutsu. I can't get out.'_

"You made the mistake of looking into my eyes," Itachi explained. "Your friends dying wasn't part of the genjutsu by the way. We did actually kill them." Tayuya was now chained to a post. "We are far more powerful than you can imagine. Even your feeble curse seal wouldn't have helped you."

"They're not my friends," Tayuya muttered, letting her head slump down. "They are just the team I was assigned to. I never wanted to be one of them."

"You're avoiding the question," Itachi said, lifting her head and pressing it to the back of the post she was chained to.

"Why wouldn't I? I'm dead either way right! You're just going to fucking kill me as soon as I tell you what you want so why would I give you anything?" She cursed. "Even if I did tell you what you want and you did let me go, how long do you think I would last after Orochimaru-teme found out I betrayed him!"

"We're on our way to kill the snake now," Itachi said, intentionally not promising her anything.

"And what about those loyal to him? It's not just him. Even if you did manage to kill him, he has followers that will remain loyal to him even after his death!"

"They'll die soon enough. Now tell me, Tayuya. Are you one of them?" Itachi could see the fear in the girls eyes. She truly feared Orochimaru more than death itself. More than she feared him.

"Fuck no! I hate him! I hate all of them! Especially that Kabuto bastard," She said with a snarl. "I'd kill them all the second I got the chance. But they're too powerful for me to fight."

"They aren't too powerful for us." Itachi tried to pry the information he desired from her without her telling him, but Orochimaru was no hack at fuinjutsu. The seal he put on her was too powerful for Itachi to break without her fighting against it on her own. "Tell me where he is and we will kill every last one of them until you are safe."

"Just kill me... I know I'm dead anyways... just get it over with..." tears welled up in her eyes before they escaped and began to streak down her cheeks. She sobbed silently, she had long since learned to cry in silence.

"You are mistaken, Tayuya. I will get what I came here for. It's just a matter of how much torment you can withstand before I get it." The landscape morphed into a burning village and the two found themselves just outside a burning house in shambles.

"Th-this is..."

"This is where you lost everything," Itachi said. "You will relive your greatest failure over and over until you tell me what I need to know."

Tayuya fell from her chains and attempted to pounce on the Uchiha but found her body would not respond to her commands. She attempted to curse his name and verbally berate him, but her thoughts would not reach her tongue.

The red haired girl suddenly raced inside the burning building inhaling lungfuls of thick black smoke. The smoke burned her throat and eyes but she charged in regardless. She darted up the stairs, hot cinders searing off the soles of her feet. She reached the door that haunted her dreams to this day and reached out to grasp the white hot doorknob. The skin of her palms melted off like butter against a hot knife, but she kept her grip and swing the door open. Within the room she found a crib not yet licked by the flames, and the room was filled with the wails of an infant.

Tayuya rushed in and snatched up the heap of blankets swaddling a red haired infant just in time before a wooden beam collapsed on top of the crib. Tayuya felt the floor beneath her feet give way, sending her crashing to the first floor. The girl landed on her back, knocking the wind out of her and allowing her to see the burning wood from the story above her start to come raining down.

Tayuya leapt to her feet and made haste to the door only to find masked shinobi blocking her exit. The infant's wails continued and Tayuya spun on her heel to make her way to an alternate exit. She raced through her childhood home, past the charred, headless, corpse of her grandmother in the kitchen. Tayuya leapt through a glass window and inhaled the sweet fresh air the outdoors offered her.

She laid there with the infant held close to her chest. The adrenaline quickly faded, bringing waves of unrelenting pain to her badly burned feet and hand. Past the roaring flames she heard footsteps crunching against shards of glass and ash.

"Give us the child, girl," a masculine voice hissed.

"Never! You won't take my brother! Take me instead!" She pleaded automatically.

"I have no use for you," the voice hissed back. "You are too old for what I intend."

"Tayuya! Take your brother and run!" The voice of her father shouted as he leapt between her and her assailant. Upon looking at the condition of his daughter the man looked at his wife, "get them out of here. I'll hold him back as long as I can."

"Please. As if you could do anything to impede me, the great Orochimaru-sama," the snake like man hissed.

"Go!" The red haired man shouted just before his throat was split open with a kunai."

Tayuya's mother looked like she was about to shout something before a flurry of kunai found themselves deep in her chest. The red haired woman collapsed on her back right next to Tayuya's prone form, soaking the girl in her mother's blood.

"Kaa-chan!" Tayuya wailed.

"Don't fret, girl. You'll be with your mother soon enough. Now hand over the boy."

"You'll never get him you bastard!" Tayuya shouted, ripping a bloody kunai from her mother's chest and driving it into the skull of her infant brother.

"Fine..." Tayuya whispered after the 6th time. "I'll tell you what you want to know... just kill me after I tell you."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _ **(In the real world)**_

Tayuya collapsed to her knees suddenly, only for Itachi to catch her.

"I know where he is," Itachi said through gritted teeth.

"What happened?" Naruto asked as he cut down waves of oncoming Oto shinobi eager to meet their end.

"Orochimaru is even sicker than we thought," Itachi said cryptically.

Naruto nodded in understanding before he froze, glaring in the direction of the man he desired to kill above all others. "Kabuto."

"It seems that you are far stronger than we anticipated," the specticalled shinobi said. "I knew you would kill them, I just assumed it would take you longer than that."

"So what? The pawns are all dead so now the knight comes out to stall?" Naruto said.

"That. And I think you should know how Samui died," Kabuto said with an evil grin. "As you know, I poisoned her. But you see, I only had the opportunity to do it because of you, Naruto."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"She couldn't sleep because she was up thinking about your whole dilemma between her and Ayame. How immature of you, by the way. And she got up to talk to the Jinjuriki girl about it." Kabuto crossed his arms lazily. "But Itachi here was too busy fucking the jinjuriki bitch, which led Samui straight to me."

Itachi's eyes hardened into a glare directed at Kabuto.

"I know it's hard to accept the blame in situations like these Itachi. Just to think how much could have been avoided if you has just kept it in your pants." Kabuto jabbed. "She came to talk to me about how much she loved you and how much she didn't deserve you and shit like that. It's funny how you have that effect on women, Naruto. First Ayame, then Samui. Ayame is dead too, by the way."

"What? Ayame? What happened to Ayame!?" Naruto roared.

"Inconsequential. She wasn't anything special to begin with anyways," Kabuto said with a laugh. "Nothing but a second rate wannabe kunoichi trying to impress the boy she loved. If only you were man enough to choose one or the other... maybe they'd still be alive."

Naruto vanished only to appear inches from Kabuto's face, blade drawn to behead the traitor, only for Naruto to be caught staring into a pair of blood red eyes with a six pointed star shaped pattern with a tomoe within each point.

"Tengoku (Heavenly dominion)" Kabuto muttered.

XXX END CHAPTER 38 XXX

It's been a while, I know, but hey, everyone needs a break sometime. Hope everyone had a happy holidays. Visiting family was great, I don't get to see them nearly often enough, but those three weeks was too long man. Its rough being the only introvert in a family full of extroverts... it is exhausting.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did. Kabuto has some neat new abilities that you'll all get to learn about next chapter, and finally someone mentions Ayame for the first time in like 10 chapters. Go figure.

A bunch of cool stuff to come, that's kind of a cool thing about not writing for so long, you come up with a ton of crazy new ideas. Please review.


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